Death of an Addict (Hamish Macbeth #15) by M.C. Beaton
 
From the author of the Agatha Raisin television series...
Filled with the smoky scent of peat, the purple of heathered hills, and the mellow comfort of a single malt Glenfiddich, a Hamish Macbeth mystery is, as their author suggests, “a good read on a wet day, a book you give to friends when they’re feeling down.” Now the latest book in this long-running Scottish series finds the recalcitrant Lochdubh policeman suffering a love life as bleak as a Highland winter, and investigating two kinds of monsters: a mysterious loch denizen and a brutal drug kingpin...In the far north, isolation drives some men to drink and shelters others from the temptations of modern life. The drink might explain the reports of a sea monster near the dour village of Drim. The latter led young, recovering addict Tommy Jarret to rent a chalet from a local crofter. Despite the fears of some Lochdubh citizens, Hamish Macbeth didn’t believe the fresh-faced lad would go back to drugs willingly...even when Tommy was found dead, apparently of an overdose.Suspecting the Loch Drim monster is a hoax, and unable to forget Tommy’s death, Macbeth goes to Strathbane, a nearby town, to infiltrate the local heroin trade. It’s a daft scheme—and perhaps the most courageous thing Macbeth has ever attempted. It may also be the last thing he ever does.Strathbane’s chief superintendent is thrilled with Hamish’s plan, so thrilled that he brings up a notorious detective inspector from Glasgow to run the operation. The copper in question is Olivia Chater—aka “Concrete Knickers”. Beautiful but cold, the tough-talking Olivia will pose as Macbeth’s wife.Thus begins a charade that would push two stubborn personalities into a war of wills and put an intractable Highlander in an Armani suit among the circling sharks of the underworld. And in either chilling situation it would be fatal for the constable to show vulnerability. Or fall in love.M.C. Beaton again gives readers a Highland fling of a mystery, filled with intriguing red herrings, authentic characters, and a place as unforgettable, and magical, as Brigadoon.
 
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