44 Scotland Street Book

Alexander McCall Smith is, of course, famous largely for his hugely successful 'No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series. For the 44 Scotland Street series, he moves to the streets of Edinburgh: a location about as un-Botswana as possible, but with the same light touch.

First of all, it should be said that while 44 Scotland Street does not have the same refreshing African clarity exuded from the Precious Ramotswe adventures, it nevertheless has a charm of its own. The focus is rather looser than that series; here the main characters are rather more unconnected, the main point linking them together being that they either live in the eponymous block of flats, or are linked in some way to an inhabitant. These inhabitants are rather varied: Pat, a twenty-year-old on her second gap year; Bruce, a young surveyor with a somewhat inflated ego; Bertie, the Italian-speaking put-upon child prodigy; Domenica, the middle-aged widow with a belief in determinism. From chapter to chapter, McCall Smith skips from one character to the next, chronicling their interactions with good-natured humour, while managing to contrast such subjects as psychiatry and psychotherapy, poking some gentle fun at the latter.

44 Scotland Street was originally produced as a serialised novel, published in The Scotsman. As such, it short chapters, of around 2-3 pages, create a flow that is considerably different to that of the Ramotswe novels. Nonetheless, this gives the reading a most enticing quality: you're constantly tempted to "just read one more"; it's almost like munching your way through a packet of chocolate raisins, and just as enjoyable. It won't win the Nobel Prize for Literature but it's a lot of fun. Give it a try.

The story revolves around the comings and goings at No. 44 Scotland Street a fictitious building in a real street in Edinburgh. Immediately recognisable are the Edinburgh chartered surveyor stalwart of the Conservative Association who dreams of membership of Scotland's most exclusive golf club. We have the pushy Stockbridge mother and her prodigiously talented five-year-old son who is making good progress with the saxophone and with his Italian. Then there is Domenica Macdonald who is that type of Edinburgh lady who sees herself as a citizen of a broader intellectual world. In McCall Smith's hands such characters retain charm and novelty simultaneously arousing both mirth and empathy. 44 Scotland Street is vintage McCall Smith tackling issues of trust and honesty snobbery and hypocrisy love and loss but all with great lightness of touch. Clever elegant and funny this is a novel that provides huge entertainment but which is underpinned by the moral dilemmas of everyday life and the characters' struggles to resolve them.

44 Scotland Street : Paperback : Little, Brown Book Group : 9780349118970 : : 01 Mar 2010 : * The new novel from Alexander McCall Smith, full of his trademark humour and wisdom.