Death of a Gossip by, M.C. Beaton, Narrator Davina Porter

Death of a Gossip
Hamish Macbeth Mysteries, Book 1
M. C. BeatonNarrator: Davina Porter4 hrs 57 mins                

Death of a Gossip
M. C. Beaton

Narrator Review: Davina Porter

Narrator Davina Porter

Davina Porter is the Queen of Narrators. Her voice is beautiful and cultured. The quick changes between characters is usually noticeable when read by other narrators, but, with Ms. Porter it's staggering how she manages to give each character a personal voice.

Each is distinctive, with appropriate accents. She never fails to re-capture the individual not only within the same book but from book to book in a series. To fully appreciate her astonishing abilities try listening to M. C. Beaton's, Death of A, series. Davina Porter gives the most remarkable and unparalleled portrayal of characters no matter what book she might be reading.

Audio Book Review: Death of a Gossip, by M.C. Beaton

Author M.C. Beaton

The first in the series is, Death of a Gossip (1985) that introduces Hamish MacBeth and the prissy miss, Priscilla, the love of Hamish's life.

The bitchy Lady Jane Winters joins a fishing class at the hotel in Lochdubh. Who is she and why did someone kill her? One by one Lady Jane humiliates each person in the class, by bringing up some secret in their past that they don't want anyone to know about.

With great relish Lady Jane loudly and viciously details their embarrassing past. Even our favorite constable, Hamish is not passed by. Lady Jane tries to hurt him but Hamish really has no shameful events in his past. Lady Jane is not endearing her self to anyone and someone is definitely going to make sure she does not get around to exposing them and kills her.



This Audio Book from Amazon/Audible is not the Davina Porter narration but a newer remake narrated by Antony Ferguson and produced by Blackstone Audio.

What I love about the Death of A, series is you really can't like the person who is murdered, in fact they deserve to die. Hamish, always discovers the killer and they always die or commit suicide thereby saving a trial and neatly ending the book. Beaton also uses weather skillfully and it is almost always winter, cold, and snowing, or the wind is blowing.

Unfortunately the series is now being narrated by other readers and some are very good but none are as excellent as Davina Porter. If you are lucky you may still find the ones by Davina Porter and if you do snap them up because they have become very scarce.