If you are expecting an action-packed murder thriller, you will be greatly disappointed. If you enjoy gentle-paced stories with some mystery, you will like this book. If you know anything about Edinburgh, and if you know even a little about philosophy, you will love this story, even if the "heroine" can be self-reflective to the point of paralysis. McCall Smith has written an urban, Western version of Mma Ramotswe in many...
0Report
I read this book without having read any of the author's prior books. I know that some have remarked that this was boring or slow but I found it to be neither of these things. I was thoroughly entertained by it. I loved Isabel's mind--which is why I found it so difficult to understand the ending and how she came about feeling the way she did. I won't spoil the ending but I will say that it leaves one with an utterly unending...
1Report
If your interests are limited to mystery books, nothing else, this book is not for you. I initially bought this book because of the title, thinking that we would have a female version of Her Professor Dr Dr (Hon.) Moritz-Maria von Igenfeld, the Pninish uberscholar philologist who wrote the seminal Portugese Irregular Verbs ("after which there was nothing left to discuss about the subject, Nothing."). I was curious to see...
1Report
Catherwood is right! McCall Smith IS a genius. The fact that this amazingly versatile author is able to write in so many different literary genres is living proof of a brilliant original literary mind at work. Like Catherwood I enjoyed both the Ramotswe novels, the Von Igenfeld entertainments and now this splendid mystery novel all alike. Go with Catherwood's critique and buy all McCall Smith's oeuvre, from Botswana to Edinburgh!...
0Report
In Mr. Smith's book he makes a natural transition from the books of the "No. 1 Ladies Detective" series toward a more human concept. Instead of the near `saintly' ethical and moral actions and thoughts of his characters in Botswana, McCall Smith deals here with a more advanced culture and the question of conflicting ethical concepts. In this book, "The Sunday Philosophy Club" again Smith uses a mystery as the vehicle for...
0Report
No matter how big our TBR piles get, we're always finding new books we want to stack on! Here are 26 exciting July releases available for preorder, along with suggestions for similar reads you can enjoy right away.