 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2019) |
 First edition | |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Published | Hardback, paperback, E-book |
| Publisher | Mysterious Press [1] |
Publication date | 1996 |
| Pages | 281 pp [1] |
Death of a Macho Man is a mystery novel by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney), first published in 1996. [1] It is set in the fictional town of Lochdubh, Scotland featuring the local constable Hamish Macbeth. [1]
Randy Duggan is the macho man of the title of this work of fiction. He claims to be a professional wrestler and he becomes known in the small village of Lochdubh for his tall stories. When Randy is found murdered, Constable Hamish Macbeth hopes that the killer is not one of the villagers. However, there is enough local resentment against Randy, that someone in quiet, peaceful Lochdubh may have been driven to slaying this macho man.
Randy Duggan arrives in Lochdubh claiming to be an American professional wrestler. A huge, muscular man, he dominates the bar in Lochdubh's pub. At first the locals are enthralled by Randy's fascinating stories of his apparently exciting life and his generosity with paying for drinks. Their interest begins to pall when they realise that Randy's accent, when he is drunk, betrays his Scottish origins and that he is a braggart and a bully and openly insults the local men, including Geordie Mackenzie, a mild retired school teacher and local fisherman, Archie Maclean. Both the latter are heard to claim that they will kill Randy.
Constable Hamish Macbeth intervenes in a verbal argument between Randy Duggan and Geordie Mackenzie. Randy claims that Hamish is hiding behind his uniform and would not consider challenging Randy as a civilian. Hamish accepts the challenge and agrees to face Randy in a fight. Hamish bitterly regrets this challenge next day, but as the whole village of Lochdubh has turned out to witness the fight, Hamish decides he must go through with it. Randy does not meet the appointed time for the fight. Archie Maclean volunteers to go to Randy's cottage to insist he meet this commitment. Archie finds Randy's very dead body. And Hamish Macbeth is a suspect in the death of a macho man.
Hamish knows that the detective team from the fictional town of Strathbane, led by his archenemy, Chief Inspector Blair, will question his actions in arranging a fight with the deceased. He is in trouble, but pretends that he did not intend to engage in a fight, but rather have the whole village witness Hamish berate Randy Duggan for his loutish behaviour and his rudeness to the local people. To Blair's disgust, this explanation is accepted.
Hamish discovers that the macho man has been involved with many of the villagers. Several women in particular appear to have been smitten by Randy's macho charm. One of these women is Rosie Draly, a writer of romantic historical fiction. When Rosie is murdered, Hamish is baffled to find a connection between her death and the death of Randy Duggan. Blair is convinced that he has solved the case. Rosie's brother in law, passionately in love with her for many years, confesses to killing her and Randy Duggan. Rosie would not consent to marry her brother in law and he was jealous of Randy's attentions to Rosie.
Blair is happy to have the murders solved. Hamish is not convinced that Rosie's brother in law killed Duggan and makes this known. Hamish, with his usual reliance on his intuition and following up possible although apparently unlikely leads, unearths the truth. Rosie was murdered by her brother in law, but Randy Duggan was not. The murderer of the macho man was in Lochdubh all the time. Hamish saves Priscilla Halburton-Smythe from a murderous kidnapper and shoots this man. In doing so, Hamish has revealed the solution to a long unsolved crime in Scotland and proven the identity of the mysterious "Gentleman Jim", the brains behind this notorious crime.
Despite his success, Hamish is once again out of favour with his superiors in Strathbane. Hamish is deemed to be too unorthodox, too much a maverick to be allowed to remain in the police force. The villagers of Lochdubh march into Strathbane and demand that their village constable retains his position in Lochdubh. Given the media coverage of his success and the flashing cameras and television crews accompanying the villagers' march, his superiors agree that Constable Macbeth is best left alone to police his beloved village.
Macbeth was King of Scots from 1040 until his death. He ruled over the Kingdom of Alba, which covered only a portion of present-day Scotland.
Elizabeth Ann Hulette, best known in professional wrestling circles as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager, occasional professional wrestler and professional wrestling TV announcer. She gained international fame from 1985 to 1992 in the World Wrestling Federation and from 1996 to 2000 in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), in her role as the manager to wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, as well as other wrestlers of that period. She died as a result of an acute toxicity on May 1, 2003, in the home she shared with wrestler Lex Luger.
Randall Mario Poffo, better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler and professional baseball player best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Hamish Macbeth is the lackadaisical police constable of the fictional Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton.
James Evander Munro Yuill is a Scottish actor.
Naran (transl. Man) is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Joshiy and written by Ranjan Pramod. The film tells the story of Mullankolli Velayudhan (Mohanlal), an innocent homeless ruffian who exercise control over the Mullankolli village to maintain order with his code of conduct. Produced by Antony Perumbavoor through Aashirvad Cinemas, it also features Siddique, Innocent, Bhavana, Madhu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Devayani, Mamukoya, and Maniyanpilla Raju in supporting roles.
Cider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee. It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). It has sold over six million copies worldwide.
Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published in 1982.
Dead Famous (2001) is a comedy/whodunit novel by Ben Elton in which ratings for a reality TV show, very similar to Big Brother, rocket when a housemate is murdered. Unlike a typical whodunnit, Elton does not reveal the identity of the victim until around halfway into the book.
Hamish Macbeth is a Scottish mystery comedy-drama television series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 26 March 1995 to 4 May 1997. It is loosely based on a series of mystery novels by M. C. Beaton. The series concerns a local police officer, Constable Hamish Macbeth, in the fictitious town of Lochdubh on the west coast of Scotland. The title character was played by Robert Carlyle. It consisted of three series, with the first two series containing six episodes and the third containing eight.
Death of a Gossip is a mystery novel by M. C. Beaton, first published in 1985. It is set in the fictional town of Lochdubh, Scotland and is the first novel of a series featuring the local constable Hamish Macbeth.
Death of an Outsider is the third mystery novel in the Hamish Macbeth series by Marion Chesney under her pseudonym M. C. Beaton. It was first published in 1988.
Death of a Gentle Lady is the twenty-fourth mystery novel in the Hamish Macbeth series by M. C. Beaton. It was first published in 2008.
Death of a Hussy is a mystery novel by M. C. Beaton, first published in 1990. It is set in the fictional village of Lochdubh, Scotland, and features the local constable Hamish Macbeth.
24 Hours is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Marion Gering and starring Clive Brook, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins and Regis Toomey. It was based on the novel Twenty-Four Hours by Louis Bromfield and the play Shattered Glass by Will D. Lengle and Lew Levenson. In the film, an alcoholic married man is accused of murdering the woman with whom he has been carrying on an affair. The title comes from the fact that the film takes place from 11 pm one night to the same time the following night.
Archie Brooks is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Tony Pitts. Pitts had a 10-year span as Archie between 1983 and 1993, but was axed and Archie became one of the victims of the Emmerdale plane crash.
Katta Panchayathu is a 1996 Tamil language film directed by R. Raghu and written by T. K. Bose. The film stars Karthik and Kanaka, with Goundamani, Senthil, Radha Ravi, Ponvannan, V. K. Ramasamy, Ravichandran, Srividya, and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan playing supporting roles. The film, produced by R. Vasanthi, had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 7 June 1996.
Kaal Bhairav Rahasya is an Indian thriller television series. The series ran for two seasons from October 2017 to April 2019. Both seasons are based on written works of Indra Soundarrajan. The story of first season is based on his Tamil novel A Secret , The second season story is based on the supernatural thriller tale of Soundarrajan titled The Palace of Kottaipuram . The series featured different cast in each season although many cast members appeared in both seasons as different characters. A third season is set to premiere in October 2021.It is also dubbed in Telugu as Kala Bhairava Rahasyam and aired on Star Maa.
Daniel Boyle is a Scottish screenwriter best known for devising the television series Hamish Macbeth and writing twelve episodes of the show.