review: death of a chimney sweep by m.c. beaton

Death of a Chimney Sweep follows Hamish Macbeth’s investigation of a serial killer in a small Scottish town. It all gets started when a conman is found dead in his own chimney. While it initially appears the chimney sweep did it, he too is found dead a short time later. As Hamish attempts to unravel the conspiracy, the body count increases in this cozy from M.C. Beaton.

I could not get into this one. Not only was much of the dialogue written in an annoying dialect that continually took me out of the story, there was a ton of extraneous information that distracted from the plot. I had no interest in anything to do with Angela and her book. Since Angela was involved in the con run by the first murder victim, a little background on her was appropriate; instead, it was drawn out to an excruciating degree. Furthermore, most of the action is blandly described instead of being written in active voice.
1/5
ARC Review
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.