Blurb:
Although the Thomases were not initially liked by villagers, Trixie Thomas had become a model of domestic efficiency – the perfect wife. So it came as a great shock to everyone when she was found dead – to everyone but police inspector Hamish Macbeth.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: Very cosy mysteries, Scotland
My thoughts:
After his short stay in Cnothan Hamish is back in Lochdubh now. The murder victim is Trixie, a scrounger par excellence who always needs a few pet projects she can work on only to discard them when she is finished with them. Good riddance! Hamish has got his work cut out and his old nemesis Blair isn’t helping either. A new superior officer has the chance to see them both in action and draws the right conclusions about them both, however, towards the end of the book, we get a hint that Blair’s days might not be numbered still.
Hamish finally goes off Priscilla, which doesn’t please her one bit. Serves her right. The way she is going on, dragging one "fiancé" after the other to Scotland is a shame. Not only has she got a terrible taste in men in general, not only is she weak willed and has no spine, she also changes those men like there was no tomorrow. You get the impression as long as she has ANY man at her side she is validated. I dislike her more and more in each book.
Apart from the annoying women in this book (one of them gets killed fortunately, bless the killer) this is again another pretty good mystery with an enjoyable cosy atmosphere.
Location: The fictional village of Lochdubh, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Images from wikipedia and sxc.hu user theoneill
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Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a perfect wife |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781845296674 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a perfect wife |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
In Leanne Shapton’s marvelously inventive and invented auction catalog, the 325 lots up for auction are what remain from the relationship between Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris (who aren’t real people, but might as well be). Through photographs of the couple’s personal effects–the usual auction items (jewelry, fine art, and rare furniture) and the seemingly worthless (pajamas, Post-it notes, worn paperbacks)–the story of a failed love affair vividly (and cleverly) emerges. From first meeting to final separation, the progress and rituals of intimacy are revealed through the couple’s accumulated relics and memorabilia. And a love story, in all its tenderness and struggle, emerges from the evidence that has been left behind, laid out for us to appraise and appreciate.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: I loved the idea, I kind of liked the result
For people who like: Fiction that looks like non-fiction, putting two and two together without being explicitly told what happened.
My thoughts:
I was quite fascinated with the idea of an auction catalogue to tell the story of a relationship. It sounded intriguing, interesting and different. When I started reading this book I realized how much work it must have been to put this together. There are photos of the couple (standing in for Lenore and Hal were Sheila Heti and Paul Sahre), tons of letters and notes, various items, clothes, pictures of cakes and what not. The thought that someone put a part of the lives of two fictional people together in that way is fascinating.
However, I would have liked it better if those people were a little less hip and outstandingly original, but a little closer to everyday people in everyday life. There are a few short conversations that Lenore and Hal had written on brochures during a concert etc. and the dialogue to me sounds just too much of a good thing. Listen to this (about the poodles on the cover):
I can tell you hate them/ No!/ But I love the dogs, the dogs love you, they are perfect pets, as they do not poo./ Dearest Hal, they are not our pal, their breed is a pain, a firm hand must train./ Lenore, Lenore, fear not evermore, these unbroken pups you’ll soon adore./ You win, dark knight, at least they don’t bite.
Often there would be song lyrics scribbled down in books, unfortunately I knew none of the songs, and so couldn’t relate too much. The clothes are mostly vintage clothes, the items are all vintage or artsy. Everything was just a little bit too extraordinary. I mean, who on Earth would go as a litmus test on Halloween? I just couldn’t relate to those two and frankly, I didn’t give a damn whether they would stay together or not (even though, of course, it was clear from the start, they would not). Also, I saw no reason why they would auction off the things they did. Why would you sell on your bathing suits after a break up?
Most of the hints as to what happened in the relationship of the couple we receive from notes to each other, emails, letters (who nowadays writes postal letters from the US to Europe, esp. when the other is only gone for a week or two?) either to each other or from friends or family to either Lenore or Hal. I must be missing something completely because I think that basically the same effect could have been achieved with an epistolary novel of some kind. Maybe in the style of Love Virtually. Somehow I simply expected more of that auction catalogue idea and it didn’t deliver it.
All in all I enjoyed reading this (I love catalogues in general), but the book left me a bit disappointed in the end.
Product info and buy link :
| Title |
Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris: Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry |
| Author | Leanne Shapton |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781408804728 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Important artifacts…. |
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Blurb:
Agatha has moved to a picture-book English village and wants to get in the swing. So she buys herself a quiche for the village quiche-making contest and is more than alarmed when it kills a judge. Hot on the trail of the poisoner, Agatha is fearless, all the while unaware, that she’s become the next victim …
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Very much
For people who like: Cosy mysteries, the Cotswolds, the English countryside, Miss Marple atmosphere with a tougher touch
My thoughts:
This is the first book in the Agatha Raisin series. After reading some of M. C. Beaton Hamish Macbeth books I decided to give Agatha Raisin a try and I was not disappointed.
Agatha Raisin is not a very likeable heroine, at least not at the beginning. She is a tough business woman who usually gets her way by bullying and/or flattering others and that’s about all she can do. Being nice doesn’t come naturally to her. When she – very uncharacteristically – gives all the credit for a local charity event that she organized to a friend, she immediately regrets it when he benefits from her action.
Obviously she also does not learn any lessons from previous events. She buys a quiche to enter it into a competition, someone dies from eating it which gets her into an awkward position. However, a little later she has no scruples to take a cake from a communal freezer to offer it to someone as her own, even though she has no idea whose cake it is and what might be in it. She just does what gets into her mind, not considering any consequences.
This also brings me to another question. Don’t they have to keep retained samples from food at such occasions? That should be standard procedure on occasions like the competition or even the storage freezer! That way the mystery would have been solved a little earlier.
All characters in the village were interesting and entertaining, and the Cotswolds are a great setting for the whole idea of a hardened ex-PR agent trying to ingratiate herself with the locals. The whole story was a pleasure to read; humour, atmosphere and a cosy mystery all combined to a very nice package.
Oh, the cover! Isn’t that a lovely cover?I don’t read chick lit but always like those illustrated covers and fancy fonts. So I am more than pleased with the covers of these Robinson editions.
Location: The fictional village of Carsely, Cotswolds, England, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781849011341 |
| I got this book from | I swapped it |
| Buy link | Buy Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death |
| More info | The Agatha Raisin series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
Murder is a Tasty Dish. The most hated man in the most dour town in Scotland is sleeping with the fishes, or-more accurately-dumped into a tank filled with crustaceans. All that remain of the murdered victim are his bones. But after the lobsters are shipped off to Britain’s best restaurants, the whole affair quickly lands on the plate of Constable Hamish Macbeth.
Exiled with his dog, Towser, to the dreary outpost of Cnothan, Macbeth sorely misses his beloved Lochdubh, his formerly beloved Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, and his days of doing nothing but staring at the sheep grazing in a nearby croft.
Now the lawman has to contend with a detective chief inspector who wants the modus operandi hushed up, a dark-haired lass who has an ulterior motive to seduce him, and a killer who has made mincemeat of his victim-and without doubt will strike again …
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: the Highlands, cosy mysteries
My thoughts:
I can’t say I was too thrilled with the murder method. Not that I ever am, mind you, but the corpse in the fishtank being completely eaten is rather unsavory. The whole idea has been done more tastefully (but maybe tasteful was not M. C. Beaton’s intention anyway) by David Wishart in Food for the Fishes.
All that aside, this time the setting was different again. Where in book one there were tourists to be questioned, in book two the local gentry, here they are hostile villagers. There is quite a surprising variety of characters in those books.
One word to Blair. Why this oaf is still leading the investigations is a mystery to me. Why do the “rival” police officers always have to be so mind-numbingly dumb and antagonistic. Instead of securing Hamish’s cooperation (after all, he has solved the last two crimes single handedly and made Blair look rather stupid) he gives him mundane tasks and does everything he can do be an ass. By rights he should have been sent packing after book two.
Priscilla is becoming more and more of a nuisance mystery. She turns up at the end of the book and acts kind of jealous because of another woman’s affection to Hamish. Of course, her own various fiancés and guys she drags up to Scotland are perfectly ok. Strange double standard. Can’t say I like her.
Location: The fictional village of Cnothan, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Images from wikipedia and sxc.hu user arinas74
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Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of an outsider |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781845296681 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of an outsider |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
When Priscilla Halburton-Smythe brings her London playwright fiance home to Lochdubh, the whole town is delighted — save perhaps for love-smitten bobby Hamish Macbeth. But the morning after a posh engagement party, one of the guests, Captain Bartlett, is murdered on a grouse hunt.
Unfortunately, the prime suspects are the party guests. And a second murder soon follows the first. Now Hamish Macbeth must cut through the alibis before the killer strikes again . . . all the while trying to woo the lovely Priscilla from her jealous boyfriend.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: Very cosy mysteries, Scotland, the British upper class
My thoughts:
This is the second instalment in the Hamish Macbeth series and this time we meet a few more locals. However, the locals are mostly gentry from the wider area, not so much the Lochdubhians (or whatever the inhabitants of Lochdubh call themselves).
I liked Hamish in the first book already, but now I like him even better. He really is Mr.Nice. Unfortunately, his sidekick, well, not really, Priscilla is not his sidekick but rather his crush, left a bad impression this time. Not only did she get engaged to a guy who she knew was a total prick, she also stayed engaged even though she realizes that they are not suited at all to put it mildly. And why? Because she doesn’t want to stand up to her parents! I hate women like that. Whining about their own weakness, but nevertheless not doing anything about it.
The mystery was a good one. It might be me but again I had no clue who the murderer was but was pleased with his/her identity. Hamish is a clever one indeed.
For cozy mystery lovers this series is a must read.
Location: The fictional village of Lochdubh, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Map from wikipedia, landscape by macleod from sxc.hu
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Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a cad |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson |
| ISBN | 9781845296667 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a cad |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
Isabel Dalhousie—the nosiest and most sympathetic philosopher you are likely to meet—now has a son, Charlie, whose doting father Jamie has an intriguing idea to pose to Isabel: marriage. But Isabel wonders if Jamie is too young to be serious? And how would Cat respond? On top of these matters, the ambitious Professor Dove has seized Isabel’s position as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. However, nothing it seems can diminish Isabel’s innate curiosity. And when she recognizes that two paintings attributed to a deceased artist have simultaneously appeared on the market, she can’t help but think that they’re forgeries. So Isabel begins an investigation and soon finds herself diverted from her musings about parenthood and onto a path of inquiry into the soul of an artist.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: Edinburgh, Scottish isles, philosophy
My thoughts:
Again, I totally loved Alexander McCall Smith’s style and find it almost incredible how he writes from a woman’s point of view. This is simply amazing, he must have studied women a lot.
Isabel is a mother now. has that mellowed her? Certainly not! She is her old meddling self and again her thoughts about people and her own actions diverge considerably.
Example: She thanks Jamie (the happy father) for not going away when he learned that she was pregnant. She did think it possible that he would prefer his freedom. OK, fair enough. However, only a few pages later she gets irritated when she realizes that people had speculated about whether Jamie would stay or leave. Now, if she herself wasn’t even sure about that, she can hardly blame strangers to wonder, can she?
Her getting involved is once more completely a matter of choice. This time I found her even a little conceited. She tells an expert at a gallery about her suspicion of forgery and even though she has even less clue how to proceed in the matter she still thinks she can do more than the gallery guy.
There are a couple more issues I have with her but I am not going into great lengths about it here (her dealing with Dove which could be called spite, especially since she had no proof for what was going on; her stance on assassinating a tyrant, considering her opinion about the death penalty). All these things are part of her personality and without them the books wouldn’t be as charming as they are.
The next two instalments are already waiting for me.
Location: Edinburgh and Jura, Scotland, UK
Images from Google maps and wikipedia (Barnhill by zilchy111 and Corryvreckan by Russ Baum)
Product info and buy link :
| Title | The careful use of compliments |
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| ISBN | 9781400077120 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy The careful use of compliments |
| More info | Alexander McCall Smith’s website |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joins the local fishing class she wastes no time in ruffling feathers – or should that be fins? – of those around her.
Among the victims of her sharp tongue is Lochdubh constable Hamish Macbeth, yet not even Hamish thinks someone would seriously want to silence Lady Jane’s shrill voice permanently – until her strangled body is fished out of the river.
Now with the help of the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, Hamish must steer a course through the choppy waters of the tattler’s life to find a murderer. But with a school of suspects who aren’t willing to talk, and the dead woman telling no tales, Hamish may well be in over his head for he knows that secrets are dangerous, knowledge is power, and killers when cornered usually do strike again.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: very cosy mysteries, Scotland, lovely scenery, plots that don’t make your heart beat faster
My thoughts:
After reading a couple of Isabel Dalhousie books I thought there is nothing more cosy out there, but I was wrong. This Hamish Macbeth book is even less nerve wrecking than The Sunday Philosophy Club series. Considering there was a murder in the first and nothing even close to petty theft in the latter this is no mean feat. At the moment I am in the mood for some very easy and unexciting reading, so M.C. Beaton was just right for me.
I very much enjoyed the quiet setting in a Scottish village in the Highlands out in the sticks. Our hero, the village bobby, solves the crime and leaves his detective colleagues from the big city far behind. Hamish Macbeth is calm, apparently rather slow (don’t let appearances deceive you, he is rather witty and had some great comeback lines in this book) and easy going.
His love interest (unrequited, but then again maybe not altogether so) and her father, the local land owner, are just the stereotype characters you would expect, at least so far. She, down to Earth, independent thinker, turns down all suitable marriage candidates; the father, the loud, irate, “my daughter is too good for you” type. Perfect! We didn’t meet any other village people here as the plot revolves around a group of tourists who have come to Lochdubh for a week to learn the tricks of the casting trade. All the sleuthing and snooping is done among them, so there was not much room to get to know the locals.
The mystery was an ok plot, there were some hints as to the murderer, but I never knew who it was until the end. However, had it been more obvious, I wouldn’t have minded, this series clearly lives from the setting, the local characters, its hero and the atmosphere.
Great for light reading! There are many more books in this series and I am curious to read M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series as well. Thanks, Caroline, for pointing me to those books.
Location: the (fictional) village of Lochdubh, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Map from wikipedia, photos by chris1961 and brO at sxc.hu
Movie tip
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a Gossip |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson |
| ISBN | 9781845296650 |
| I got this book from | I bought it, because Caroline recommended the series to me |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a Gossip |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
When friends from Dallas arrive in Edinburgh and introduce Isabel to Tom Bruce – a bigwig at home in Texas – several confounding situations unfurl at once. Tom’s young fiancée’s roving eye leads Isabel to believe that money may be the root of her love for Tom. But what, Isabel wonders, is the root of the interest Tom begins to show for Isabel herself? And she can’t forget about her niece, Cat, who’s busy falling for a man whom Isabel suspects of being an incorrigible mama’s boy. Of course Grace and Isabel’s friend Jamie counsel Isabel to stay out of all of it, but there are irresistible philosophical issues at stake – when to tell the truth and when to keep one’s mouth shut, to be precise – and philosophical issues are meat and drink to Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. In any case, she’s certain of the ethical basis for a little sleuthing now and again – especially when the problems involve matters of the heart.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: Edinburgh, calm plots that don’t get the heart rate up, philosophical ponderings
My thoughts:
God, Isabel Dalhousie really should chill out a bit. That woman thinks every little detail through as if it was a decision of life and death. She wants to come to morally impeccable decisions and yet again she often fails.
Example: She wants to buy a flat from a woman who is eager to sell it to her because she likes the thought that Isabel and Jamie are living there together. She got a wrong impression about the two and Isabel thinks it is unfair to accept the very generous offer based on a misconception. She wants to buy the flat for Grace and she and Jamie are not a couple at all. So she goes and tells the seller’s lawyer that she does not intend to live there with her young man. But then she claims that even though they are living apart she IS in a relationship with Jamie. A blatant lie, made because she doesn’t want sympathy from the married lawyer who might feel sorry for the poor spinster Isabel. Of course, she immediately regrets having said it, but where has all her pondering taken her? She just made it worse.
Isabel constantly feels pressured into getting involved in other people’s affairs because she has this odd theory about moral proximity. When she sits next to a person at a garden party she feels she then has a moral obligation to help that person with whatever problem they might have. If she makes eye contact with someone it puts her into a position of moral obligation towards that person (as seen in “The Sunday Philosophy Club” already). Give me a break!
Her friendship with Jamie has evolved into more now, and as you can imagine, that causes quite a bit of distress as well. Heaven forbid that Isabel just plunges into a relationship/affair with a man 14 years younger without agonizing over it for weeks.
Cat’s reaction to the fait accompli of the relationship was surprising to say the least and throws a very bad light on her in my opinion. I liked her up to that point but her open hostility was rather unpleasant to watch.
All in all, Isabel Dalhousie makes her own life so complicated it’s not funny anymore. But entertaining nonetheless.
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Photos by stuart_sib & stevieb5 at sxc.hu
Product info and buy link :
| Title | The right attitude to rain |
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| ISBN | 9781400077113 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy The right attitude to rain |
| More info | Alexander McCall Smith’s website |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
Over thirty-five years ago, Gordon Meyers, an aspiring writer with a low number in the draft lottery, packed his belongings and reluctantly drove away, leaving Glenna Rising, the sexy, sharp-witted med student he couldn’t imagine living without.
Now, decades later, Gordon is a former globetrotting consultant with a grown son, an ex-wife, and an overwhelming desire to see Glenna again. Stunned when Gordon walks into her Manhattan office, Glenna agrees to accompany him for a drink. As the two head out into the snow-swept city, they become caught up in the passions that drew them together before tearing them apart. And as the evening unfolds, Gordon finally reveals the true reason for his return.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: the 60s, bittersweet love stories
My thoughts:
This story starts right before Gordon steps into Glenna’s office. It is a good beginning and immediately you realize that both people still have feelings for each other. Unfortunately, as so often the case with me, I very soon took sides in this story and decided I didn’t like Glenna very much. This happened already in the first flash back where Gordon goes back to the 1960 right before he meets Glenna for the first time. I can’t put my finger on why I took a dislike to her, but later on there were situations where I really thought Gordon should move on. Some of the things she did (even though they might make perfect sense to her) I just wouldn’t have done. So for me reading this was a lot like being angry at Glenna.
The plot moves back and forth between now, in the evening when Gordon and Glenna meet again after 35 years, and the 60s when they were a couple and very much in love. But soon clouds appear in the blue sky and eventually the relationship ends. I can’t say I was particularly sorry about this.
Anyway, 35 years later, things have changed for both, and they now are able to start anew. And, since I am not a complete bitch, I was happy for them.
Even though I had my misgivings about one of the protagonists, I enjoyed reading this very much. It just flowed and I did want to know why Gordon had come back and whether he and Glenna will find together again. If you like the time period of the 1960s and everything that goes with it, this is perfect for you.
Location: New York City, N.Y., USA
Images from wikipedia. Map by M. Minderhoud
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Comeback Love |
| Author | Peter Golden |
| Publisher | Washington Square Press |
| ISBN | 9781451656329 |
| I got this book from | Netgalley |
| Buy link |
Buy Comeback Love (original version published by Staff Picks Press) Buy Comeback Love (published by Washington Square press, out in April 2012) This is the version I read. |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
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Blurb:
In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart—this one a transplant.
When Isabel’s niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly plagued with memories of events that never happened to him. The situation appeals to Isabel as a philosophical question: Is the heart truly the seat of the soul? And it piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories be connected with the donor’s demise? Of course, Grace—Isabel’s no-nonsense housekeeper—and Isabel’s friend Jamie think it is none of Isabel’s business. Meanwhile, Cat brings home an Italian lothario, who, in accordance with all that Isabel knows about Italian lotharios, shouldn’t be trusted . . . but, goodness, he is charming.
That makes two mysteries of the heart to be solved—just the thing for Isabel Dalhousie.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: cosy mysteries, philosophical musings, Edinburgh
My thoughts:
This is the second instalment in “The Sunday Philosophy Club “ series and another delightful read. The atmospheric Edinburgh setting, the “mystery” and the lovely characters make for another very cosy read.
Isabel herself is a character I am not 100% sure about. Do I like her or do I dislike her? In this book I tended towards the latter because she came over as a terrible busybody who just can’t leave anything alone. Her excuse that she has a “moral obligation” to act because someone told her something and now she is somehow responsible for the outcome is rather shaky. Ian never asked her to act – either on his behalf or independently – and still she digs and digs and hurts people along the way. She is the type who stops at nothing just to salve her own conscience (which is an oxymoron really, when you come to think about it).
In this particular case she tries to find the person who donated the organ and does so by flipping through papers to find a death, eventually finds one that seems the right one and assumes he is the donor. How naive and simplistic can you get? And this from a person who is supposed to be a philosopher who thinks every little detail through until the very end. First of all how likely is it that an organ donor dies in the city where the recipient lives? Who says that the dead person was an organ donor at all? Her method is “assuming – acting” without one bit of thought for the people involved. So she goes, hurts the supposed donor’s family and makes an enemy at the same time.
There is no end to her rash acts and inconsideration in this story. When it would be better to call Jamie to get her out of a tricky situation she rather calls Ian and gets him into an even trickier one! The poor man just had a heart transplant, but she calls him (without warning to boot) to go and meet the person eye to eye who supposedly causes his anguish!
And what about the wish of the donor’s family to remain anonymous? It’s nothing to Isabel. To hunt them down she doesn’t shy away from asking a journalist friend to call in a favour from a surgeon who surely has to violate medical confidentiality. Then she goes and visits the mother who tells her that the father of the donor doesn’t know about the donation and she wants to leave it at that. Can you guess Isabel’s next action? Right! She goes and visits the father (who seems like a nice guy to her) and tells him about it.
She goes through the whole story pondering philosophical issues, pondering what it takes to be a good and charitable person and at the same time judges any situation or person according to her whim and acts on that without any respect for the wishes, feelings and possible consequences for other people.
The most amazing thing is that Isabel still comes over as only human and rather likeable – even though I wanted to beat some sense into her throughout the book.
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Friends, Lovers, Chocolate |
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| ISBN | 9781400077106 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Friends, Lovers, Chocolate |
| More info | Alexander McCall Smith’s website |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
