The Sunday Philosophy Club
Alexander McCall Smith
Hoodwinked by the "international bestseller" label and the promise of a new series from the author of the highly successful The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books. This one features 40-something Isabel Dalhousie, who edits the Review of Applied Ethics, and gets involved in what is strictly not her business when she witnesses the fall of a young man at a theatre in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the murder mystery set-up was merely the most skeletal of frames for Smith to hang his various digressions into applied ethics and issues of morality. Uh-huh. Unfortunately, most of the digressions were just not very interesting. So don’t come a-knocking unless that’s what you’re a-wanting. Judging by the comments on amazon.co.uk, quite a few were similarly underwhelmed by this book.
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, though episodic and difficult to get into, did at least offer the laidback charms of an unfamiliar setting, Botswana. It was also suffused with a genuine affection for the land and its people. But it didn't compel me to explore the rest of the series though.