Isabel Dalhousie by Alexander McCall SmithMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The fact that I was willing to spend my money on so many of these books speaks of the love I have for the Isabel Dalhousie series.
These books are not flashy fiction. Readers of action thrillers will do well to keep far away from these books. Readers who love Jane Austen, Anne Tyler, Ruskin Bond and similar authors will love these series.
The books have a gentle laid back tone. Isabel Dalhousie is a rich woman. She edits a philosophy journal (Review of Applied Ethics) and had once founded Sunday Philosophy Club. The club closed down as the members did not have time for it.
Ruminating on philosophical aspects is what comes naturally to Isabel. She is a bit of an old fashioned girl. She likes following social niceties. She likes her old fashioned house that she inherited from her parents. She loves her unfashionable green Swedish car. She loves living her quiet, sedentary life in Edinburgh.
She brings to mind a leisurely era when people had time to lunch and dine gracefully, go to concerts, visit museums and art galleries, or merely walk about the town. Although she lives in our times, there are no mentions of mobile phones and dish TV. Emails and internet are referred to, but clearly, Isabel is a woman who prefers her letters handwritten or, at the very least, printed.
The mysteries that Isabel solves, are almost the side plot in each book. At times, the mystery is not satisfactorily solved even. But she likes what she learns out of each encounter. She likes meeting new people and she likes being allowed to look into their world.
I have completed all the nine books in the series. And absolutely adored all of them.Alexander McCall Smith
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