Death of a Scriptwriter

Patricia Martyn-Broyd was not an easy woman to like. The hawk-nosed spinster had retired to Scotland, unable to write another book since her 1965 mystery featuring the aristocratic Scottish detective Lady Harriet Vere. Local constable Hamish Macbeth thought Patricia must be lonely beneath her rigid pride. A bit lonely himself since the breakup of his engagement, he extended his friendship. But that was before fame and the movie people arrived... A British TV company had decided to feature Lady Harriet in a new series. The constable knew there would be trouble between the middle-aged, dour townsfolk and the flashy, urbane filmmakers. And there was - murder. When one of the scriptwriters for the series is found dead, the tension escalates on the set and in the streets of Drim. And as Hamish pokes into the town's secrets and the TV people's hidden agendas, he finds a large cast of people who wanted to cut out the writer for good - from the boozehound husband jealous of his actress wife's flagrant flirting to the tough, ambitious producer who was threatened with dismissal.