The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Hamish Macbeth British Television Mystery Show

I watched this mystery show years ago (I think it was on the BBCA channel), but I’m re-watching it now. I would categorize it as a ‘dramedy’. Some shows have more comedy than others, depending on the plot line. And, a few of the episodes don’t have a mystery. My husband and I enjoy all of them, but I definitely recommend you watch them in the correct chronological order. If you want to really enjoy the shows, it’s pretty important to know the characters.

If you’re a fan of M.C. Beaton‘s Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series in book format, you’ll be surprised at all the differences the production team/writers have made. The differences are in the characters, definitely not the Cozy setting! Usually  I don’t like it when television series take liberties with an author’s characters/settings – but in the case, I very much enjoyed the differences.

The show’s Hamish (the terrific Robert Carlyle) is not at all uncoordinated/lanky, rather a very accomplished outdoors-man. As I watch the shows, I see a Hamish that is smart, thoughtful, and very athletic. There is never any doubt that this police constable will solve the week’s mystery – quite a difference from the Hamish in books. (Yes, I know Hamish solves the mysteries, but the depiction of Hamish sometimes leaves you wondering if he will!)

The series takes place in the coziest of cozy villages in Scotland. It’s the type of place where everyone knows all the other people, even their respective pets!

The Hamish Macbeth TV series is sprinkled with mystical elements. “TVJohn” (played by Ralph Riach) is a clairvoyant whose visions have gotten Hamish out of trouble a few times. The series also includes M.C. Beaton’s books’s love triangle. Isobel (played by the multi-talented Shirley Henderson) and a beautiful author Alexandra (Valerie Gogan) both love Hamish and he can’t quite decide between them …  or can he?

Lochdubh has plenty of eccentric characters: a father and son duo who seem to spend most of their time planning small criminal schemes to make them money, a grocery store owner and his secret love (which isn’t a secret to the rest of the village inhabitants), the totally out-of-place doctor who always wears a kilt, and of course, Wee Jock (Hamish’s dog).

The Hamish Macbeth TV mystery series has three seasons (1995-1997) but unfortunately each season only has about six episodes (eight in the third season). This is yet another time I find myself wishing that our (USA) television series would make only six episodes a year and series in New Zealand (Brokenwood), Australia (Miss Fisher Mysteries), Scotland (Hamish Macbeth), and England (Miss Marple, Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, many others) would make as many episodes as they do here!

I don’t want to tell you about any spoilers – but I do want to recommend this show to you. My husband and I are enjoying this show immensely – and it’s the second time for both of us!

P.S. This show is available on the Acorn Channel (I’m watching it through Amazon), at least as of the time of this post.

Jacqueline Frost: The Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Series

Twelve Slays of Christmas: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery It’s the time of the year to start thinking about the upcoming holidays. Living in San Antonio where snow is only a distant memory, I find it hard sometimes to get in the mood without a proper boost from a Christmas Cozy. So, this month I read the first in a very new series by Jacqueline Frost, The Twelve Slays of Christmas, part of her new Christmas Tree Farm Mystery series. This post is part of my series where I am writing about the most popular and recommended Cozy Mystery series.

The Twelve Slays of Christmas has just about the coziest setting possible — a family-owned Christmas tree farm that is part of a historic small town, Mistletoe, Maine. On the farm, which also has a cafe, “The Hearth” and other shops open during the holiday season, games are played for the twelve days of Christmas — the “Reindeer Games”. Each day a different holiday-related game is played. Tourists flock by the busload to the town to play these games and to bask in the holiday atmosphere that this quaint farm and historic town provide.

The story begins with Holly White, the 24-year-old daughter of the owners of the farm just having returned from Portland Maine. She had just been jilted by her fiance just days before her scheduled wedding. So, she returns home with her cat, “Cindy Lou Who”, and falls back into her old routine of helping with the games and the farm. Of course, a murder occurs which causes all who work at the farm to fall under suspicion. And, the farm has to be closed which places Holly’s parents’ livelihood in jeopardy since over half of their income is associated with the holiday season.

Holly begins her investigation in parallel with the new sheriff in town, Sheriff Evan Gray.  Sheriff Gray just happens to be young, single and very good looking. Holly also soon meets a local newspaper reporter who also is young, good looking and available. Readers of modern Cozies will probably see where this is going pretty early in the book.

If the elements of The Twelve Slays of Christmas seem pretty familiar to seasoned Cozy readers, the way the book is put together with such lively charm and with so many holiday-related elements, made this book pretty irresistible to me, especially since I was looking for a way to help me get into the holiday mood. And, Holly is such an attractive heroine — her plucky character somehow reminds me of (an older) Nancy Drew. The way she picks herself up from personal adversity and gets back into the routine at her parents’ farm while simultaneously investigating the murder that threatens to ruin her parents’ farm’s income and reputation, is portrayed in such a lively way that I just kept turning the pages. What higher praise can I give a book!

If you want to read some of the other entries about highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.

P.S. By the way, this Christmas Cozy got me in such a winter-ized mood that I had my two tech-guys (my husband and son) bring in the Christmas bins from our garage over the weekend. I know it’s a little early for decorating – with Thanksgiving still down the calendar road, but I needed this winter Cozy! I walked Cocoa (our three year-old Yorkie “puppy”) two hours before writing this entry in 73* weather!

One New Cozy Mystery Series and One Holiday-Themed Cozies Coming December 2019

December will be a decent month for Cozy Mystery releases, with one new Cozy Mystery series by an established site author and one new Holiday-Themed Cozy Mystery.

First up, Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan) will be putting out the first in her new Amish Matchmaker Mystery Series, titled Matchmaking Can Be Murder. Millie Fisher is returning to her hometown of Harvest, Ohio, after the death of her husband, and has decided to branch out from her normal trade, quiltmaking, and begin matchmaking, with her niece being her first target. Unfortunately, her niece is already betrothed to a thoroughly unsuitable candidate, but Millie manages to convince her to break it off. But when the jilted lover turns up dead, Millie’s niece quickly becomes a prime suspect, and Millie will need to work hard to keep her out of jail! Amanda Flower also writes (among others) the Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series, the Magical Bookshop Mystery Series, and the Magical Garden Mystery Series.

Also, Cynthia Baxter will be releasing Last Licks, the third in her Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe Mystery Series. Kate McKay, owner of Lickety Splits is preparing for Halloween, but she’s derailed somewhat by the offer of an offer by a Hollywood movie crew to use her shop as part of the production. Unfortunately, someone else seems to have more sinister motives than making a movie, and one of the actresses ends up dead by poison – poison apparently delivered by ice cream. Cynthia Baxter is also the author of the Reigning Cats & Dogs Mystery Series and the Murder Packs a Suitcase Mystery Series.

For more Halloween Cozy Mysteries, check out the Halloween Mystery Book Series page on the site.

For more new Cozy Mystery Series, check out the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.

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