Hamish Macbeth is a Highland police officer, living a happy bachelor life with his dog and cat in the back room of the police station at Lochdubh, a tiny Scottish village.
Josie McSween is his new constable, but police work is the furthest thing from her mind. Encouraged by her romantic mother, Josie has dreams of marrying Hamish. Her desperate attempts to catch his attention and his almost equally desperate attempts to avoid being caught provide a counterpoint to the mystery: a Highland beauty queen dies when a Valentine package turns out to be a letter bomb.
Is lovely Annie Fleming the sweet girl nearly everyone seems to think she is, or is she a scheming vixen as some of the villagers say? Would another candidate for Queen go to those lengths out of jealousy — or was Annie involved in something much more sinister?
The questions become more urgent as more bodies turn up, and Hamish himself is in danger.
Beaton’s plainspoken writing style suits the setting, and she paints wonderful word pictures of rural Scotland as she delivers a well-plotted mystery with a strong dose of ill-fated romance.