EXCERPT: 'Hamish, you know I've been to Lochdubh, so I know a little about your people there and I don't want to make any waves.'Hamish looked at Bland. The man had always been a mystery - part golfing gambler, part stock-market investor, part globe-trotting playboy, and now part cop. What else was he into? Why was he now standing beside him in front of Daviot's desk? Why was he back in Scotland?ABOUT 'DEATH OF A SPY': Sergeant Hamish Macbeth has some major problems to deal with – crimes and criminals, even law enforcement agents, that he doesn’t want anywhere near his beloved Highland village in Lochdubh. Hamish is worried about how the locals, as well as those in the wider area of his territory in Sutherland, will react to his new assistant officer. The officer is none other than the enigmatic American James Bland who is on an exchange scheme from his home city of Chicago in the United States, supposedly to study policing methods in Scotland.Hamish knows that this is far from the truth. Having recently become involved in identifying a Russian spy ring to solve a murder, he is aware that Bland’s mission is to track down the members of the spy network still at large. Bland trusts Hamish to help him find all of those who may have been, or may still be, in league with the Russians.In the meantime, he and Bland have to contend with the everyday chores of rural policing. The tourist season brings with it the usual crop of traffic incidents, lost wallets, lost dogs, and people who are simply lost, but a spate of burglaries and robberies committed by a man described as having a gold tooth and a spider’s web tattoo on his neck give Hamish cause for serious concern. The robberies become increasingly violent and the man is dubbed "Spiderman" by the local press. Hamish has to use all of his contacts and every ounce of his Highland guile to find the robber.MY THOUGHTS: After how many years in Lochdubh, the locals still think of Hamish as an interloper, a lazy, work-shy interloper at that. They believe he spends more time scrounging cups of coffee at the Tommel Castle Hotel or the Italian restaurant in the village than looking after their interests. They don't like his relaxed, laid-back manner, nor that he has a 'free' house and 'free' vehicle and see him as somewhat of a personal servant since he is paid from their taxes.But Hamish is a bit more savvy than they give him credit for. Somehow, he always seems to get his man. Women he doesn't have as much luck with, having several girlfriends and a fiancé or two in his past. He is also unconventional in his methods of catching criminals, sometimes almost becoming a criminal himself.I loved this series until recently. I still like it, but . . . I don't know that I like the almost 'James Bond' vibe that James Bland brings to the book. Do we need Russians and spies in Lochdubh? I was much happier with cat-burglars, stock thefts, missing persons and the occasional murder of a tourist or local - it was so much more fitting somehow. Although I have to admit it was lovely to have the character of Moira Stephenson reintroduced. I would like to see Moira move to Lochdubh along with Carol McGill and Jean Graham, two other very interesting characters who made an appearance in Death of a Spy. Lochdubh could do with some new blood, and these three would be an enlivening addition plus an antidote to the irritating Currie sisters.Will I continue with this series? That's a resounding 'Hell, yes!' I like Hamish Macbeth far too much to abandon him. ⭐⭐⭐.5#DeathofaSpy #NetGalleyTHE AUTHOR: THE AUTHOR: Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.Unfortunately, Marion died in January 2020 and her notes for further books were passed on to Rod Green to complete her series.DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK, Constable for providing a digital ARC of Death of a Spy by MC Beaton and RW Green for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...