Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher who also uses her training to solve unusual mysteries. Isabel is Editor of the Review of Applied Ethics - which addresses such questions as 'Truth telling in sexual relationships' - and she also hosts The Sunday Philosophy Club at her house in Edinburgh. Behind the city's Georgian facades its moral compasses are spinning with greed, dishonesty and murderous intent. Instinct tells Isabel that the young man who tumbled to his death in front of her eyes at a concert in the Usher Hall didn't fall. He was pushed. The Sunday Philosophy Club marks new territory - but familiar moral ground - from the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. With Isabel Dalhousie Alexander Mccall Smith introduces a new and pneumatic female sleuth to tackle murder, mayhem - and the mysteries of life. As her hero WH Auden maintained, classic detective fiction stems from a desire for an uncorrupted Eden which the detective, as an agent of God, can return to us. But then Isabel, being a philosopher, has a thing or two to say about God as well. Also available as an audiobook from Time Warner Audio Books.
Isabel Dalhousie Series
This series follows an inquisitive and philosophically minded woman who finds herself at the center of mysteries in picturesque Edinburgh. Each case compels her to delve deeper into questions of ethics and human nature. With the help of her sharp niece and spirited housekeeper, she unravels complex murders, often with her own romantic entanglements adding to the intrigue. It's a charming blend of cozy mystery, intellectual contemplation, and a portrait of life in Scotland's capital.
Recommended Reading Order
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
When her niece Cat travels to a wedding in Italy, Isabel agrees to fill in at Cat's delicatessen. She takes notice of a customer named Ian,who is avoiding chocolate--doctor's say it is bad for the new heart he recently received. Ian is haunted by memories he can't quite place, prompting Isabel to wonder if his new heart may be the cause.
The key to contentment in the Scottish climate is the right attitude to rain - just as in life the key to happiness lies in making the best of what you have. Bruised in love by her faithless Irish husband, Isabel Dalhousie is a connoisseur of intimate moral issues: she edits a philosophical journal and spends a great deal of her time considering how to improve the lives of those around her. There is her housekeeper Grace, whose future she must secure; her niece Cat, who is embarking on a new relationship with a dubious workaholic mummy's boy; and even an American couple newly arrived in Edinburgh on a tour. And then there is Jamie, Cat's ex-boyfriend, a handsome, gifted musician fourteen years Isabel's junior, with whom she is slowly and hopelessly falling in love. Intensely thoughtful and consistently entertaining, THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TO RAIN is shot through with compassion and unassuming intelligence.
For philosophically minded Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, getting through life with a clear conscience requires careful thought. And with the arrival of baby Charlie, not to mention a passionate relationship with his father Jamie, fourteen years her junior, Isabel enters deeper and rougher waters. Late motherhood is not the only challenge facing Isabel. Even as she negotiates a truce with her furious niece Cat, and struggles for authority over her son with her formidable housekeeper Grace, Isabel finds herself drawn into the story of a painter's mysterious death off the island of Jura. Perhaps most seriously of all, Isabel's professional existence and that of her beloved Review come under attack from the machiavellian and suspiciously handsome Professor Dove. A master storyteller whether debating ethics in Edinburgh or pursuing lady detectives in Africa, here Alexander McCall Smith is as witty and wise as his irresistibly spirited heroine.
* More delightful philosophical musings from Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh-based philosopher and amateur sleuth
Isabel Dalhousie Novel - 6: The Lost Art of Gratitude
- 262 pages
- 10 hours of reading
The sixth book in this bestselling series gives us Isabel, intrigue — both moral and financial — a fox bite, two engagements and at least one wedding! While attending a second birthday party with her son, Charlie, Isabel meets Minty Auchterlonie, a ruthlessly ambitious high-flying financier who first appeared in The Sunday Philosophy Club . Minty heads a small investment bank and may or may not be deceiving her shareholders. Isabel faces a dilemma: she has information which could prevent the investors from being cheated — but how can she be sure of it? Meanwhile, Isabel’s niece, Cat, becomes engaged to a stunt man who is also a funambulist. However, the fiancé is about to take up a highly dangerous engagement that Isabel fears will end in disaster, even as Isabel herself considers embarking on an extreme adventure of her own… From the Hardcover edition.
The Charming Quirks of Others
- 246 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and curious observer of the behaviour of her fellow man, is approached by a friend at a local boarding school that is planning to appoint a new headmaster; an anonymous letter has arrived suggesting that one of the shortlisted candidates has a compromising past. But which one is it? Isabel is once again drawn into an investigation, and finds herself exploring dilemmas of human weakness and forgiveness. She turns to her fiancé Jamie for advice, but he too appears to have something to hide . . .
The forgotten affairs of youth
- 245 pages
- 9 hours of reading
The eighth delightful installment in the ongoing saga of the life and loves of Isabel Dalhousie. As the editor of an applied ethics journal, Isabel Dalhousie is usually tucked away in her editorial office, in the comfortable Edinburgh house she shares with her fiance and their young son, and does not often meet many fellow philosophers. But while helping in the delicatessen owned by her niece, Cat, she meets Jane Cooper, an Australian philosopher who is spending a sabbatical in Scotland. Isabel learns that Jane needs to find out something about her past. Jane was born in Scotland but taken to Australia as a baby by her adoptive parents. She knows who her mother is, but her father's identity is still a mystery. Can Isabel help Jane unconver this important and potentially unsettling information? And in Isabel's own life, there is the ever-present question of marriage, and also the perennially difficult issue of her relationship with Cat, whose choice of men is as dubious as ever.
An unexpected appeal for help from a collector who has been the victim of an art theft threatens to take Isabel Dalhousie far outside her comfort zone.
The Novel Habits of Happiness
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
From a small town outside Edinburgh comes the news that a young boy has been recounting vivid recollections of a past life: a perfect description of an island off the coast of Scotland which he couldn't possibly know, and a house there, where he claims to have spent his former life. When the boy's mother asks Isabel to investigate his claims, she feels she must help them learn the truth, and she and her husband, Jamie, set off for the island. But finding the house the boy described only leads to more complicated questions.
A Distant View of Everything
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Like [Barbara] Pym, McCall Smith believes that the small stuff in life matters Scotsman
The Quiet Side of Passion
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
The latest novel in Alexander McCall Smith's much-loved Isabel Dalhousie series, which have sold over 1.7m copies
The thirteenth novel in Alexander McCall Smith's much-loved Isabel Dalhousie series.
