Alexander McCall Smith, Trains and Lovers

Alexander McCall Smith's stand-alone novel Trains and Lovers tells the stories of four strangers who meet while traveling from Edinburgh to London. The stories told (or not told, in one case) focus on love in various forms and range from heartbreaking to suspenseful. Indeed, the story told by the character Hugh—whose love interest may not be what she seems—makes me think that McCall Smith would be very successful at writing a Hitchcock-worthy suspense novel. The book is very sweet, and an easy read in the way that all of the author's books are: they go down easy and leave the reader feeling better about the human condition.