The recession has hit Scotland, and police constable Hamish Macbeth notices that the locals are coming up with inventive ways to lure tourists to their sleepy towns. The quaint village of Braikie hasn’t much to offer other than Buchan's Wood, a rare place of beauty, which the savvy tourism director renames “The Fairy Glen.” Promoted by brochures featuring a beautiful kingfisher on the cover, it isn't long before bus tours begin to arrive.

But in Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton, the town's luck nosedives when trouble starts haunting the glen. As a wave of vandalism threatens to scare tourists away, Hamish's investigation turns from sabotage to murder. Can he catch a killer—before the fairy tale attraction turns permanently grim?