Death of a Hussy — M.C. Beaton

WEALTHY MAGGIE BAIRD IS NEITHER NICE NOR KIND NOR GENEROUS.

About the best that can be said of her is that inside her middle-aged body, there still beats the heart of a beautiful tart.

So when her car catches fire, with Maggie in it, there are five likely perpetrators right on the premises, houseguests in her luxurious Highlands cottage: Maggie's timid niece and four former lovers, one of whom Maggie had intended to pick for a husband.

All five are equally impecunious, and all had ample opportunity to monkey with Maggie's car. So finding who did it requires all Police Constable Hamish Macbeth's extraordinary common sense and insight into human nature. And -- lazy lout though he may be, a thorn in the side of his superiors, and an exasperation to his neighbors -- when it comes to solving a murder, Hamish lets no grass grow under his feet. Not even when the killer appears to be the wrong person entirely.