Death of an Addict by M.C. Beaton
This book is part of the Hamish Macbeth series. Hamish is a policeman in the small village of Lochdubh, responsible for a large area of the country around it. The nearest big town, and where he reports into, is Strathbane. Hamish has done well for himself, and turned down promotions several times as he likes where he lives and what he does.
Here, Hamish goes to see a crofter Parry McSporran that he knows is renting out cabins to see how it is going. Two of the cabins are on long lets, one to a young English woman environmentalist Felicity Maundy, and one to a young man Tommy Jarrett who is working on a book. The latter's name sounds familiar and Parry has him do a check to see if the young man has a record. He does have one for possession of drugs, and Hamish goes to talk to him and decides Tommy is being honest when he claims he is clean now.
The day after Hamish visits, Tommy is found dead, with suspicion of an overdose. This doesn't sit right with Hamish and he decides to dig a little, against the wishes of his superiors. His digging leads him to the drug world and has him going undercover with a young female officer, who is superior to him in rank.
As usual, Hamish is quite a character, a man who pays attention to details, but who is a bit naive at times. He gets in over his head a couple of times here, but he learns a lot and uncovers some criminal activity. Blair, the man he reports to in Strathbane is on leave as the whole thing begins and isn't pleased when he returns to discover Hamish is impressing their superiors once again.
As always I enjoy this series and Hamish.
