The Lost Art of Gratitude

Starred review from August 17, 2009
Smith's quietly triumphant sixth novel to feature Scottish philosopher Isabel Dalhousie (after 2008's The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
) shows that Isabel and the author's other, better-known female sleuth—Precious Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series—are sisters under the skin, despite obvious differences. Minty Auchterlonie, who once alerted Isabel to some insider trading, fears someone is out to get her. The tax authorities have suddenly investigated Minty, and an unknown party has sent her a funeral wreath. When Isabel looks into these provocative acts, she draws on lessons learned from the journal she edits, the Review of Applied Ethics
, to arrive at the complex truth behind them. Meanwhile, the father of Isabel's young son proposes marriage, and a defeated academic rival accuses her of knowingly publishing plagiarism. Smith's trademark humor and telling observations about people heighten the appeal.

September 15, 2009
Inspired and encouraged by verses from W.H. Auden, Edinburgh philosopher Isabel Dalhousie again confronts wickedness masquerading as mere crime.

A child's birthday party is an unusual spot to get a new case, but that's where high-flying investment banker Minty Auchterlonie asks Isabel to meet with Jock Dundas, who's threatening to reveal their (now-ended) extramarital affair to her husband, Gordon McCaig, unless Minty gives Jock access to the son Gordon assumes is his. It's a delicate mission, but no more delicate than the other tasks on Isabel's plate. Her old nemesis Prof. Christopher Dove accuses her of condoning plagiarism as editor of the Journal of Applied Ethics. Her niece Cat, a deli owner who's never quite gotten over Isabel's continuing liaison with her former lover Jamie, the father of Isabel's son Charlie, announces her engagement to Bruno, a tightrope walker and stunt man who seems utterly unsuitable. Jamie proposes marriage to Isabel, propelling her into a state of bliss that's punctured only when her housekeeper expresses relief that now she can stop living in sin. And Isabel has to decide what to do about a neighborhood fox she's been feeding when he turns up wounded but won't let her touch him.

As usual in this wise and literate series (The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday, 2008, etc.), nothing much happens. Yet readers as sensitive as Isabel will turn the last page feeling that they've been through quite a bit, from a confrontation with monstrous evil to another round of struggles to help creatures in need.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2009
In the sixth installment of McCall Smiths engaging series, Scottish moral philosopher Isabel Dalhousie dotes on her 18-month-old child, Charlie, and addresses some very adult issues, too. The most pressing among them is the pedanticand oh-so-annoyingProfessor Christopher Dove, who has accused Isabel of plagiarism. (The charge is completely unfounded, and as Isabels sleuthing suggests, Professor Dove may have committed some academic sins of his own.) Then theres prickly financier Minty Auchterlonie, who speaks to Isabel about a very personal matterbut can she be trusted? On the domestic front, Isabels niece has a new boyfriend, a stuntman whose voice is as tightly wound as the tightrope he walks. Jamie, Isabels much younger lover and the father of Charlie, has a very important question for Isabel. And Charlie says his first word. (Hint: its a cocktail garnish.) Whether shes pondering a deep philosophical conundrum or helping a friend in need, charming Isabel always has the best intentions, even if she sometimes seems to be interfering. You cant help yourself, says a neighbor and confidant. Luckily for readers, Isabel seems destined to meddle indefinitely. If McCall Smiths No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency entries are his love letter to Botswana, the Scotland-based series is a paean to his home of Edinburgh, an eclectic metropolis brimming with history, mystery, and life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)