Product Description

In the fabulous new installment in the best-selling adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, Isabel is asked to help a doctor who has been disgraced by allegations of scientific fraud concerning a newly marketed drug. Our ever-curious moral philosopher finds her interest piqued. Would a doctor with a stellar reputation make such a simple but grave mistake? If not, what explains the tragic accident that resulted in the death of a patient? Clearly, an investigation is in order, especially since a man's reputation is in jeopardy. Could he be the victim of someone else's mistake? Or perhaps he has been willfully deceived by a pharmaceutical company with a great deal to gain.

Not every problem prompts an investigation (take, for example, her ongoing struggle with her housekeeper, Grace, over the care of Isabel's infant son, Charlie), but, as we've seen, whatever the case, whatever the solution, Isabel's combination of spirit, smarts, empathy, and unabashed nosiness guarantees a delightful adventure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112278 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-23
• Released on: 2008-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780375425134
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In Smith's winning fifth novel to feature Edinburgh philosophical sleuth Isabel Dalhousie (after The Careful Use of Compliments), Dalhousie, who's recently assumed ownership of the obscure journal she's edited for many years, the Review of Applied Ethics, applies her deductive gifts to the case of a disgraced doctor. When a patient dies after taking a new antibiotic that Marcus Moncrieff deemed safe in clinical trials, the doctor's original report turns out to contain falsified data. Did Moncrieff skew the data to please the drug manufacturers? Moncrieff's wife turns to Isabel for help in lifting her husband out of his despondency. While the truth isn't straightforward, the motives of the guilty party prove to be both plausible and rational. The strengths of the book, as with Smith's better known No. 1 Ladies' Detective series, lie in its protagonist's determination to treat others without judgment—and in the author's revealing glimpses into the human soul. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
This fifth installment in McCall Smith’s engaging series finds fortysomething Edinburgh moral philosopher Isabel Dalhousie investigating a doctor accused of scientific fraud. Did Marcus Moncrieff manipulate the data for a drug developed by the same company that funded his research? Isabel soon discovers that numbers are but part of the equation. It turns out that Dr. Moncrieff’s nephew, who is also his assistant, might have had good reason to exact revenge on his uncle. (At issue is the inheritance of a large farm on Scotland’s Black Isle.) Meanwhile, Isabel’s much younger boyfriend, Jamie, continues to dote on Isabel and their infant son, Charlie. (Alas, Jamie’s extraordinary good looks have Isabel forever worrying that he will lose interest in her.) There are other moral dilemmas, too. Isabel suspects that Eddie, the vulnerable young man who works at Isabel’s niece’s deli, lied about the reason he needs to borrow money. And Grace, Isabel’s very assertive housekeeper, has been telling local residents that adorable Charlie is her own. McCall Smith, who also pens the best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street novels, has rendered a wise and very human heroine who grows more endearing with each entry. --Allison Block

Review
"Endearing... Offers tantalizing glimpses of Edinburgh's complex character and a nice, long look into the beautiful mind of a thinking woman."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Delightful... McCall Smith's talent for dialogue is matched only by his gift for characterization."
--Chicago Tribune

"Full of his insightful but gentle examinations of human nature... Paints [a] rich portrait of Edinburgh."
--Rocky Mountain News

"Alexander McCall Smith's writing is downright addictive."
--The Grand Rapids Press


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

A good book for a rainy day
I love Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series. From the very first book, The Sunday Philosophy Club, reading them is like entering a special world. His settings and characterizations are nearly flawless, and the human touch, the joys and sorrows of life, are handled beautifully. After reading this latest book, filled with bits of poetry and music, intelligent ideas and musings of the human heart, I felt that if I ever had to chose a few dozen books as favorites, this one and the four that preceded it would be among them.

Disappointed In Isabel a bit
I've always liked Isabel Dalhousie. In the beginning of the series, she is everything she is now except one: she wasn't insecure. Even getting together with Jamie, she took charge. It was great to read. I love strong women.

However, the last book and this one, she has degenerated into a really insecure person. And her infatuation with Jamie is a bit disturbing. Very little is written about his good heart, but every few pages we get a description of how good-looking he is, of how he is hers, and how proud she is of his good looks and flat belly, and on and on an on. It got really irritating.

And sadly, her son, seems to be incidental. There are no description of strong feelings for him. It's a tepid relationship at best. Jamie is the obsession. Again, disturbing.

That and the sad lack of plot. What the heck is with Nick? I'll still keep reading though. I love McCall Smith's novels.

Not the best in the series, but still worth reading
The Comfort of Saturdays is the fifth book in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series, which feature Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and occasional amateur sleuth. I should say at the outset that I adore this series. Isabel is a very likeable character with lovely little observations about life and its everyday moral dilemmas. But having said that, this is the book that I have liked least in the series to date. It felt like Isabel spent too much time thinking and not enough doing, to the detriment of the book's momentum.

The story picks up a year after "The Careful Use of Compliments". Isabel and Jamie's son Charlie is now 15 months old. One thing that felt wrong to me as a mother was Isabel's relationship with Charlie, which seemed very functional. She spends so many hours fretting about Jamie - does Jamie love her? is he happy? is she at risk of losing him? how can someone so beautiful want to be with her? - while she seems far less interested in her own son.

The book opens well. Isabel is asked to investigate the circumstances behind a doctor's disgrace over a medical scandal. At the same time, Jamie has developed a friendship with a mysterious composer by the name of Nick Smart. However it felt like McCall Smith lost interest in both of these storylines, which get pushed to the back and never get fully resolved. Instead we spend a lot of time with Isabel and her insecurities. For the first time we see sides of Isabel which are not very appealing: for example she harbors a grudge over a loan that she has made and is quick to pass judgment on Eddie's girlfriend based on the way she looks.

Despite all of this, McCall Smith is still a lovely writer. I always feel a little lighter in spirit after reading his books. The Edinburgh settings are captivating and Isabel has an original and refreshing take on life.