Sergeant Hamish Macbeth pays no mind to a bothersome woman who had been out drinking and forgot all the events of the previous evening, until she turns up murdered.

Constable Hamish MacBeth heads for the village of Stoyre to investigate why its citizens are leaving in droves and encounters a series of baffling events, dangers, and mysteries.

Announcing his engagement to associate Josie McSween, police sergeant and once-confirmed bachelor Hamish Macbeth struggles with prenuptial jitters while investigating the murder of a woman whose complicated case introduced him to his fiancee.

Less than delighted when he wins the maid services of Mrs. Gillespie, a notorious and malicious gossip, in the local church raffle, Hamish Macbeth suddenly finds himself investigating the death of the local cleaning woman.

"Sergeant Hamish Macbeth is alarmed to receive a report from a woman in the small village of Cronish in the Scottish Highlands. She has been brutally attacked and the criminal is on the loose. But upon further investigation, Hamish discovers that she was lying about the crime. So when the same woman calls him back about an intruder, he simply marvels at her compulsion to lie. This time, though, she is telling the truth. Her body is found in her home...

Confounded by the murder of Lochdubh writing circle's long-winded organizer, police officer Hamish Macbeth investigates the victim's writings for clues and wonders at sinister themes within an unfinished soap opera script.

Surprised that a newcomer to the Scottish Highlands has remained steadfast to her new home in spite of an inhospitable winter, constable Hamish Macbeth learns that the woman has deluded herself into believing that she is engaged to a local artist.

Police Constable Hamish Macbeth investigates incidents of vandalism and violence in a quaint Scottish village that is trying to lure tourists to its newly christened "Fairy Glen."