Books The Careful Use of Compliments (Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Too slow for my tastes, but I knew what I was getting...
I picked up The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith a short time back at the library. I had read the previous three Isabel Dalhousie novels while on a cruise last year, and although the pace was "leisurely", I was curious as to what Dalhousie's pregnancy would mean to her relationship with Jamie. I now know, and I don't think I'll be reading any more of the series. The pace is getting to be a bit too slow, and I have far too many other books I should be reading...

In the last novel of the series, Isabel announces to Jamie (her young lover) that she's pregnant. This novel starts out with her and the baby living in Isabel's house, and Jamie still maintaining a separate residence. He proposes to Isabel, but she's not sure she wants him to feel forced into a marriage so soon. He *does* love the baby and spends a great deal of time at Isabel's place, but Isabel's ever-churning philosophical mind comes up with a thousand reasons why she shouldn't accept the proposal. The general plot that drives this installment is Isabel's curiosity over whether two paintings by an artist thought to be dead are real or forgeries. She can't resist her urge to dig into the situation, and ends up battling some philosophical issues when he uncovers the real story. The secondary plot involves her job as editor for an ethics journal. She's been ousted from the position by two members of the editorial board, and she's less than thrilled to lose the job in that particular fashion. The question becomes what will she do about it, and will she be able to ethically reconcile her actions in her own mind.

To be fair, I knew what I'd be getting when I started reading. The Dalhousie series travels at a very "relaxed" pace, and there are constant interjections of ethics and philosophy over even the smallest things. If it hadn't been for the straight readthrough of the previous three at one time, I'm not sure I would have kept going to the end. This installment, read after nearly a year's separation from the first three, tended to drag out more than I liked. I still like the 44 Scotland Street series, and I'm not soured on Smith as an author. I just don't think this series is quite my cup of tea...

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Rating: - What does a moral philosopher do for excitement?

This fourth novel in Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club series takes Isabel Dalhousie into new territory; since the last book she has become mother to infant Charlie and lover of the young musician Jamie, Charlie's father. Isabel is editor of "The Journal of Applied Ethics" and lives a quiet life in Edinburgh -- except when her pursuit of the morally right thing takes her deep into other people's business.

The early part of the book focuses on Isabel's unexpected ousting as editor, victim of a coup by a Londoner named Christopher Dove. Isabel, being independently wealthy, doesn't need the pittance she earns from the job but as usual she can't leave a wrong unrighted -- you may admire her swift and definitive method of dealing with the situation.

Like the other Dalhousie books, this one features a mystery though rather a little one. At an art auction Isabel bids on a painting by a Scottish landscape artist named McInnes who drowned eight years before. Something doesn't ring true about the painting and she sets off with Jamie and Charlie to the Inner Hebrides island of Jura where McInnes is said to have drowned. No thread is left untugged as Isabel unravels the truth. The secret behind the painting's provenance is just the kind of thing to fascinate Isabel, though for the reader the greater interest is watching her methods and meanderings.

Isabel is prone to quoting from her favorite poet -- Auden -- and making up punning crossword clues to keep calm when her housekeeper Grace is in full spate; she gives a lot of thought to right and wrong and doesn't seem capable of taking the easy option. Jamie and wee Charlie take some of her time and attention -- though less than we might reasonably expect. The story is planted firmly in her point of view.
The Careful Use of Compliments (Sunday Philosophy Club) has a charm that's hard to convey so you should read it for yourself. Isabel has a more distant feel than the much-loved Mma Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies Detective Agency series, but spending a couple of hours wandering the streets of Edinburgh with a moral philosopher is surprisingly entertaining.

Linda Bulger, 2008

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Rating: - delightful reading
I love the wonderful stories by Alexander McCall Smith.
the Isabel Dalhousie series is especially delightful. Alexander McCall Smith expresses many insightful musings through Isabel's philosophical thought process and her "interference" spurred by her curiosity of human nature.

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Rating: - The philosopher mom
The latest book in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series takes a deeper look at protagonist Isabel Dalhousie as a person with intense attachments to her new baby and her musician lover but who is still struggling to approach life with the objectivity of a philosopher. Isabel finds that this is not always an easy act to balance. While some of the most enjoyable parts of this continuing story revolve around Isabel's personal life, author McCall-Smith has thrown in an interesting mystery (softcore) and a little intrigue that gives the book some snap and energy.

The reader can easily get the impression from this series and the Mma Ramotswe books, that McCall-Smith may be using the two female protagonists as alter egos to get at some basic ethical issues that bug him and plague most of human kind. Isabel Dalhousie's mulling of daily moral issues is the basic structure on which all else in the books hang. I find this enjoyable for the most part, though I can understand why other readers could see it as off the point at times.

Overall, this book and its predecessors are the purest form of mental comfort food. I feel great for days after reading these books and always look forward to the next one in the series.