The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel - Hardcover

McCall Smith, Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037542301X ISBN 13: 9780375423017

Publisher: Pantheon, 2007

Synopsis

ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 4

Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective.  Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction’s most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life’s questions, large and small.

In addition to being the nosiest and most sypathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel is now a mother. Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life, and doting father Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove.

None of these things, however, in any way diminshes Isabel's curiosity. And when she attends an art auction, she finds an irresistable puzzle: two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist appear on the market at the same time, and both of them exhibit some unusual characteristics. Are these paintings forgeries? This proves to be sufficient fodder for Isabel's inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation... and soon finds herself diverging from her philosophical musings about fatherhood onto a path that leads her into the mysteries of the art world and the soul of an artist.

About this title

Review

A Message from Author Alexander McCall Smith

Three great places to visit in Scotland:

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
This gallery, housed in an extraordinary red sandstone building topped with spikes and twirls, contains a pictorial record of Scots over the ages--the handsome, the deluded, the unfortunate, the inventive--they’re all there.

Falkland Palace
A lovely little palace in lush countryside, where the father of Mary Queen of Scots turned his face to the wall and predicted the end of the Stuart dynasty.

The Isle of Muck
You reach this charming little island on a tiny boat. There is nothing to do on the island but to contemplate its beauty--and its name.

Note to readers:
I would like to thank you for all your support. If it weren’t for the encouragement this has given me, my long conversation with Mma Ramotswe would have ended far earlier. As it is, I feel that we still have quite a bit to hear from her – as we do, too, from Isabel Dalhousie, heroine of my Edinburgh novels, and all the denizens of 44 Scotland Street. Each of these series will have a new novel written this year, and I am also planning to revisit the three German professors of the Portuguese Irregular verbs series. I was in the United States in the spring this year and will return in the Fall. These visits give me the chance to meet many readers of these books, so if we have not yet met, perhaps we shall do so before too long. And if we do, please do not hesitate to give me your views on what should happen to the characters in the future: all (reasonable) suggestions gratefully accepted!

--Alexander McCall Smith

About the Author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the huge international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 037542301X
• ISBN 13: 9780375423017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256