Alexander McCall Smith, A Distant View of Everything

About: The 11th book in McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series. This time Isabel ponders ethics while looking into a guy who seems to be targeting wealthy women.

Verdict: I have a like/hate relationship with this series. The book’s plots are just scaffolding on which the author hangs his musings. I’m okay with that. But I would find it beyond tedious to spend an evening with Isabel and her husband Jamie as they pepper one another with erudite references to poetry and opera and art. Worse, they’ve now got two boys—one a baby with the insufferable name of Magnus—but they still have time to make elaborate dinners and go out to long lunches and take in concerts because they have a housekeeper who wants nothing more than to watch their kids all day. (“Her time was at her own disposal, as Grace had offered to look after Magnus all day, without even being asked….”) How…nice for them. And I lost whatever respect I might have had for Jamie over his reaction to his gout scare. Jesus Christ.

Publication: 2017 · 256 pages
Rating: 3 stars