Mrs. Gillespie is famous for being the best maid in the northwest of Sutherland. But to Hamish Macbeth, she is a malicious gossip who bangs around the furniture and clanks pots. When Hamish wins Mrs. Gillespie's services in a church raffle, he spends most of the day trying to avoid her. He doesn't understand how she managed to gain such a fine reputation. Then she is found dead, struck down violently by a metal bucket of water. Knowing Mrs. Gillespie's penchant for gossip, Hamish is sure she delighted in finding out her clients' secrets--which means that everyone whose home she cleaned is a suspect.

M. C. Beaton writes the Agatha Raisin mystery series and the Hamish Macbeth mysteries as well as an Edwardian mystery series under her real name Marion Chesney. Many of her novels, including Death of a Dreamer and Death of a Village, are available from Sound Library®. She divides her time between the Cotswolds and Paris.