Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate (2005) is the second novel in the Isabel Dalhousie series, following The Sunday Philosophy Club. In the previous volume, Isabel discovers the cause of death of Mark Fraser, but decides to let the matter drop without reporting it to the police. In this novel, Isabel has man troubles. First, there was John, her ex-husband. He was a flagrantly sexual Irishman and had an enthralling way with words. Yet she did not like his casual infidelities. She still misses him after two decades, but less so each year. Second, there is Jamie, her best friend, but fifteen years younger. A very handsome man, he still loves Cat, her niece, but Cat does not love him. Isabel has been feeling curious jealousies when he is seen with other women and is just beginning to admit that he is her unrequited love. Third, there is Ian, married and the recipient of a heart transplant. Isabel doesn't love him, but he is a casual friend with a serious problem. He feels a burning need to express his gratitude to the family of his heart donor and he does not know who he was. Fourth, there is Tomasso, an Italian who follows Cat back to Scotland after meeting her at the wedding of a relative; he also has personal business in Scotland involving royal pretensions. Tomasso is about the same age as Isabel, but considers her to be an old maid. He attempts to woo Cat, but she thinks he is too old. They obviously have different mores; besides, Tomasso would be greatly surprised by the independence of a Scottish woman. Yet he presents a challenge to Isabel. This novel is another rambling view of the life and times of Isabel. She is compelled to find out who donated his heart to Ian, but soon finds herself faced with a hit and run killing. She is also intrigued by Tomasso and determined to show him that even fortyish Scot-American women can be sexually exciting. Jamie is another story. Isabel is presented to his latest love, a married woman, and feels intensely jealous. After sabotaging that affair, she finds Jamie casually hanging onto a beautiful young lady and is so upset that she flees back to her home. Then he is offered a position in London and she is devastated. Clearly Jamie is more than a friend to her. This series does not follow any typical mystery format. Indeed, it is very much like the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, casual and rambling with little resort to the police or other authorities. Often Isabel bumbles her way along, making mistake after mistake, yet progressing by trial and error to the proper conclusion. She is truly an *amateur* detective. The charm of this series is the characters themselves. Isabel always has her philosophical concerns, including friends, lovers and chocolate. Grace has strongly conservative opinions and is an excellent judge of character, but is also a fervent believer in mediums and contact with the life beyond. Cat is a young woman who wants excitement in her love life, but stab

It is such a lovely, luxurious thing to read books such as this, which makes you laugh with delight at wit, which elevates one's mind without being snobby, while at the same time being quite warm and earthy. I can only barely wait until the next book in this series. Oh, Isabel, I don't know where you're going, but I surely want to come along!

Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and editor of Edinburgh's highly esteemed Review of Applied Ethics, is a single woman in her early forties (of independent means), whose sense of duty and moral obligation to her fellow man keeps her busy pondering what the right thing to do is in almost every aspect of life. These musings cause her to get involved in the lives of others, sometimes finding it necessary later to apologize to one person or another for real or imagined missteps on her part. (One of the more pleasurable aspects in the Sunday Philosophy Club series is the relationship between Isabel and her housekeeper, Grace, with whom she often discusses this or that moral or social issue. In FLC, Grace finally gets Isabel to attend a séance. Quite an accomplishment on her part.) In this book, Isabel meets Ian (it frustrates Isabel that people often only offer their first names) who has recently had a heart transplant. Ian is having some strange and unnerving experiences, which he attributes to his new heart; and the subject of cellular memory arises. He asks for Isabel's help, and, once again, she's off and running to find the answers to Ian's concerns. In the meantime, an attractive Italian arrives in Edinburgh to pursue Isabel's niece, Cat (she met him at a wedding in Italy). Cat is not interested and tries to get Tomasso and her aunt together. In addition to her usual escapades, Isabel continues her friendship with handsome young musician, Jamie. Jamie and Cat were once an item. He still loves her, but she has moved on. Isabel battles with her own feelings toward Jamie...feelings that border on love. She finds herself jealous of people or situations that she fears will "take him away" from her. I greatly admire Alexander McCall Smith's writing talent and what must be a vast store of personal knowledge (he must also do some research in order to impart so many snippets of knowledge along the way). I found myself a little disappointed at the outcome of a couple plotlines in this book, but I also realize that the main thrust of these Sunday Philosopher's Club stories is what goes on in Isabel Dalhousie's mind, the actions she takes as a result, and how her thoughts and actions match up with typical human behavior. Carolyn Rowe Hill

Isabel Dalhousie loves nothing more than discovering why the people in her life, and often those who only cross her path, do what they do. As the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics she examines human foibles with the same intensity of a pathologist peering through a microscope, in search of the motivations that affect or infect their relationships and behaviors. She freely admits that some would call her nosey, but she asserts that she's only curious. It is harder for her to admit that she often jumps to conclusions that turn out to be woefully and comically wrong. Undaunted, she soldiers on, unraveling small mysteries and knitting up solutions for the people of Edinburgh. Isabel's niece, Cat, is off to Italy on holiday and leaves her deli in Isabel's hands. Ian, a retired psychologist who knows Isabel by reputation, becomes a regular for coffee and scones. He confides that he recently has been the recipient of a heart transplant and is feeling strange emotions, memories of events he never experienced, and seeing the face of a man he's never met. He wonders at the possibility that somehow genetic memory from the donor's heart is influencing him, leaving him frightened, depressed and apprehensive. This is right up Isabel's philosophical alley, and against his wishes, she decides to search out the donor, whom she suspects may have been murdered. Meanwhile, Cat returns from Italy with yet another inappropriate older man in tow, complete with charm, a Bugatti and a crush on the wrong person. Cat has abandoned Jamie, a musician who pines after her in sorrowful Scots gloom. Jamie relies on Isabel to bolster his spirits with dinners, concerts and heartfelt conversation. If only she were fifteen years younger, Isabel opines, but alas, love triangles were meant for playing. In Alexander McCall Smith's gentle manner, the mystery embarks on the cozy path to resolution. Isabel stumbles across information that uncovers the true identity of the heart donor, meanwhile mending some broken hearts and putting a family feud to rights. In her way, Isabel Dalhousie is as wise, charmingly offbeat and original as Mma Ramotswe of the bestselling "First Ladies' Detective Agency" series. As Scottish as a single malt whiskey, FRIENDS, LOVERS, CHOCOLATE bespeaks misty Edinburgh streets and chilly moors. McCall Smith's love of Scotland is as poignant as is his love of Botswana in his African series. --- Reviewed by Roz Shea

McCall Smith has outdone himself in this latest tale of the "Sunday Philosophy Club." Very precisely, Ms. Dalhousie applies her ethical background to the real life of people in Edinburgh. Not surprisingly, her theoretical ethics comes up against real world situations where ethics have to be modified to suit the situation. In the book, such things as older women marrying younger men is covered, along with a host of other ethical issues; which in isolation seem relatively easy to work out, but in combination with real life events, need a bit of adjusting. Additionally interesting in this story is that his detective makes a huge error. She in fact finds herself chasing her own ethical tail, as she goes off on a hunt for the completely wrong person. The book makes it clear to readers, that things can go wrong; people can make false assumptions; assumptions that lead one to actions that are totally unjustified. With wonderful command of the scene and setting, this book is one of McCall Smith's greatest creations. It allows the reader to apply his/her own set of ethics to the various situations. It allows the reader to attempt to figure out which ethical positions work for them, and what they would do in the same situation. The book is highly recommended for all readers of McCall Smith. It should not be passed up, as it is one of the most transitional and interesting books in his recent publications.