Hamish Macbeth,the laid-back constable of LochdubhScotlandhas a new Land Rover to drive and a Highland summer to savorbut as fast as rain rolls in from the lochhis happy life goes to hell in a handbasket. The trouble begins when his beloved Priscilla Halburton-Smythe returns from London . . . with a fianc├⌐ on her arm. His miseries multiply when clouds of midges (the diabolical Scottish mosquito) descend on the town. Then a paragon of housewifery named Trixie Thomas moves into Lochdubh with her lapdog husband in tow. The newcomer quickly convinces the local ladies to embrace low-cholesterol mealsban tobaccoand begin bird-watching. Soon the town’s fish-and-chips-loving men are up in arms. Now faced with the trials of his own soulMacbeth must solve Lochdubh’s newest crime-the mysterious poisoning of the perfect wife.