The Sunday Philosophy Club
Ratings16
Average rating2.8
With The Sunday Philosophy Club, Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the best-selling and beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, begins a wonderful new series starring the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie.Isabel is fond of problems, and sometimes she becomes interested in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. This may be the case when Isabel sees a young man plunge to his death from the upper circle of a concert hall in Edinburgh. Despite the advice of her housekeeper, Grace, who has been raised in the values of traditional Edinburgh, and her niece, Cat, who, if you ask Isabel, is dating the wrong man, Isabel is determined to find the truth--if indeed there is one--behind the man's death. The resulting moral labyrinth might have stymied even Kant. And then there is the unsatisfactory turn of events in Cat's love life that must be attended to.Filled with thorny characters and a Scottish atmosphere as thick as a highland mist, The Sunday Philosophy Club is irresistible, and Isabel Dalhousie is the most delightful literary sleuth since Precious Ramotswe.From the Hardcover edition.
Series
Series
14 primary books15 released booksIsabel Dalhousie
Isabel Dalhousie is a 15-book series with 14 primary works first released in 2004 with contributions by Alexander McCall Smith.
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Well, that was a disappointment. The mystery, such as it is, is boring and trivially resolved in the last two pages, after numerous red herrings, none of which are really ever resolved.The characters are boring – Isabel Dalhousie is an elderly, rich Scottish woman who, despite frequently judging everyone else for being layabouts, seems to do nothing to occupy her time except judge others, nose into other people's business and obsess about the sex life of people half her age.The schtick of the book is ostensibly the philosophy, but this is no [b:Sophie's World 10959 Sophie's World (Paperback) Jostein Gaarder http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21A6T5PH7YL.SL75.jpg 4432325]. Philosophy is mentioned in passing, over-simplified and only in the most trite way. There's very little redeemable here.
I wasn't overblown by the narrator of this series as she was quite proper, quite long winded, and quite judgy. That being said, when you edit the Journal of Applied Ethics, I suppose those character traits go with the territory. I loved the descriptions of Edinburgh and I thought the housekeeper was a hoot. I still haven't read No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, but I'll give the second in this series a shot for sure,
