Book Beginnings: Death of a Gossip

Death of a Gossip, by M.C. Beaton. First book in the Hamish Macbeth mystery series. This one has been on my TBR list for many years. Here's the opening paragraph:

"I hate the start of the week," said John Cartwright fretfully. "Beginning with a new group. It's rather like going on stage. Then I always feel I have to apologize for being English. People who travel up here to the wilds of Scotland expect to be instructed by some great hairy Rob Roy, making jokes about sax-pence and saying it's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht and lang may your lum reek and ghastly things like that."

Initial Thoughts:

"Lang may your lum reek?"  Yes, that does sound pretty ghastly.

The book includes a Cast of Characters, and I see that John Cartwright is the owner of the Lochdubh School of Casting: Salmon and Trout Fishing -- so I'm assuming the "new group" he's talking about is a bunch of would-be fishermen. I'm really hoping there's not too much more of that Highland-speak -- I don't do very well with books that try to duplicate dialects or various accents. But I love Scotland -- and whodunnits, so I'm eager to give this a try.

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.