This is another in the series by Alexander McCall Smith and I went to this recently as an antidote to the many crime fiction books I had consumed in quick succession. You know that there will be no grisly deaths, accidental or intentional in this story. The author has even confessed that he doesn’t really like writing unpleasant characters and doesn’t think he is very good at it. This could lead you to think that the story is saccharine and over sweet to the point of boredom but you would be wrong. Isabel is a moral philosopher, the owner and editor of a philosophical quarterly review and her work and study overflow into her everyday life.
When is it OK to save yourself rather than another person, say in a mountain climbing situation?
Can you be angry with someone who is close to death or is that always going to be wrong?
What should a postman do if he reads something incriminating on the back of a postcard?
Moral questions, and as such we deal with a variety of these all day, every day. Maybe, usually we don’t ponder them to quite the degree that Isabel does! Interesting to think that our responses to such dilemmas are based on the Ten Commandments, Christian theology underpinning our whole legal system and way of life.
In this story Isabel has to contend with the worry that her young partner Jamie is being unfaithful. How far do you trust a partner when all the evidence is pointing against them? She also has to decide when it would be better to keep quiet rather than telling the explicit truth. On the more relaxed side we are offered the pleasures and refinements of the streets of Edinburgh and the green countryside of the surrounding Pentland Hills. It is altogether an engaging read. There are still several more in the series that I haven’t read. Alexander McCall Smith is happily prolific.