The Isabel Dalhousie series features a nosy philosopher in Edinburgh who regularly gets roped into other people’s lives and wrongdoings. As a philosopher she enjoys helping others solve moral problems. Her husband Jamie, though always supportive, does try to rein her in and show her some perspective. It gets complicated but Isabel delightfully juggles her work and family life while navigating the intricacies of good sense, logic, and ethics. She always finds a satisfying way through.
In this one Smith has real fun creating yet another romantic entanglement between Isabel’s niece Cat and her latest boyfriend. Smith has found a Leo for Cat, and indulges in some feline hilarity as he describes their “less than purr-fect” relationship.
When we lived in England I went yearly to hear this Scottish author speak at my favourite London bookstore in Marylebone (Daunt Books). I think he really has such fun writing his stories and creating his characters. This was evident in his speeches. When he spoke he would mostly chat with great humour and endearment about his book characters for the whole hour, as if they were completely real and we in the audience would chuckle right along with him as if we knew them all well too!
Awhile back a friend gave me a book by this author. It came with a folded bookmark that listed all of his series and other stand-alone books to-date. Being a lover of lists and series (and reading them in order), I was delighted with this handy checklist. Some of you may smile in recognition and others may shudder. 🙂 It’s all good. I do also love gradually reading backlist titles of favourite authors, and have lists for that as well.
You can tell from the list that I’ve been reading this author for awhile and will continue to do so because his books are relaxing and light hearted and yet shed some wisdom and light on life. Here’s some thoughts from the author himself about some of his characters, including Isabel:
Joanne's Reading Blog 