Death of a Chimney Sweep

Bestseller Beaton offers breezy fun rather than gripping suspense in her 26th mystery featuring her lovable smalltown Scottish detective, Police Sgt. Hamish Macbeth (after 2010's Death of a Valentine). Capt. Henry Davenport and his wife, Milly, have recently moved into a decrepit Georgian mansion on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Drim. A cranky and elusive man, Davenport goes for a walk one day and turns up dead in the chimney of his home that afternoon. While the town chimney sweep appears the likely culprit, no one quite believes that sweet Pete Ray would be capable of such a crime. But when Pete dies in a suspicious motorcycle accident on the moors, Macbeth realizes a killer is after something—or someone—that the fiend will stop at nothing to find. Cozy fans who value amusing characters over intricate plotting will be well satisfied. (Feb.)