This is the second part of a review of Alexander Mcall Smith’s books – the first part is here.

I’m on page 156 (of 247) of the first book in the “Isabel Dalhousie” series, and Ms. Dalhousie has done little more than pontificate on various problems. The problem which requires her investigative powers is this : a young man has fallen from the balcony of a concert hall, and his fall is witnessed by Isabel. It doesn’t look like an accident to her, so she sets out to investigate. There are also other secondary problems, such as her niece Cat’s (the niece runs a restaurant) unsuitable boy-friend, Toby.

This book suffers when compared to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency – it has very little of the charm and wit of the latter. Isabel seems nice and fair enough, but she thinks too much and does too little. Here’s an example of stuff she contemplates :

“She checked herself. That was the third time that she had imagined him in a disaster, and she should stop. It was childish, uncharitable, and wrong. We have a duty to control our thoughts, she said to herself. We are responsible for our mental states, as she well knew from her reading in moral philosophy. The unbidden thought may arrive, and that was a matter of moral indifference, but we should not dwell on the harmful fantasy, because it was bad for our character, and besides, one might just translate fantasy into reality. It was a question of duty to self, in Kantian terms, and whatever she though about Toby, he did not deserve an avalanche or to be reduced to biscuits. Nobody could be said to deserve that, not even the truly wicked, or a member of the other Nemesis-tempting class, the totally egotistical.”

It’s not that I disagree with Isabel (or Smith’s ) moral philosophy, but it would be nice to have the story keep pace with the philosophy. I had brought the first 2 books in the series, but now I think I’ll only read one.