Alexander McCall Smith has an eye for a revenue-raising series and he’s done it again with the Isabel Dalhousie novels. If you combine the nosey interfering of Austen’s Emma with the relentless self-analysis of Carrie Bradshaw you have a fair idea of the protagonist. Lonely, middle-aged Dalhousie is also a philosopher, which affords the author ample opportunity for lengthy musings on human nature and morality. Some of these are interesting and relevant and others serve only to slow the pace of the action. The same can be said for the author’s anecdotes and quotations from poets and painters.
The scenario is promising and the storyline gathers momentum towards the middle. Unfortunately, it is all a little too neat and Miss Marple-y; the couple Dalhousie accidentally bumps into in the first pages are friends of her visiting cousin and in turn acquire a parallel storyline. The ending is far too trite and you can tell that it is written by a man: it carries the curious moral message that the best way to overcome difficulties is to get pregnant.
|
|
|
|
The best of London in your inbox
|
|
