The Sunday Philosophy Club: 1 (Isabel Dalhousie) - Softcover

"Genial.... Wise.... Glows like a rare jewel." --Entertainment Weekly

"The literary equivalent of herbal tea and a cozy fire. . . . McCall Smith's Scotland [is] well worth future visits." --The New York Times

"In Mma Ramotswe, [McCall Smith] minted one of the most memorable heroines in any modern fiction. Now, with the creation of Isabel Dalhousie . . . he's done it again. . . . She's such good company, it's hard to believe she's fictional. You finish this installment greedily looking forward to more." --Newsweek

"Charmingly told. . . . Its graceful prose shines, and Isabel's interior monologues--meditations on a variety of moral questions--are bemused, intelligent and entertaining." --The Seattle Times

"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

"Fans of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels will delight in this new series, featuring as its heroine the tart-tongued, tartan-clad problem-solver Isabel Dalhousie. The book club will love it." --Life

"Whimsical. . . . [A] memorable cast of characters. . . . McCall Smith's assessments of fellow humans are piercing and profound. . . . [His] depictions of Edinburgh are vivid and seamless. . . . His fans . . . are sure to embrace these moral peregrinations among the plaid." --San Francisco Chronicle

"A mystery of moral responsibility and manners . . . [with] memorable minor characters, [an] intriguing, troubled heroine, local color and bracing Scottish patter." --Newsday

"Habit-forming. . . .The Sunday Philosophy Club leaves plenty of time for pondering moral conundrums, the drinking of steaming cups of hot brew (coffee, in this case) and . . . gentle probing into the human condition." --The Oregonian

"So believable. . . . The great pleasures of [The Sunday Philosophy Club] have to do with Smith's wry, gentle writing applied to intriguing plots more curious or humorous than dramatic. . . . Precious Ramotswe has found a kindred spirit." --The Columbus Dispatch

"Alexander McCall Smith has become one of those commodities, like oil or chocolate or money, where the supply is never sufficient to the demand. . . . [He] is prolific and habit-forming. . . . [His] gift, one of them, is to inspire an eagerness to follow. . . . McCall Smith has done his job. Isabel lives. A series is born." --The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Like walking down the street with an amazingly literate, thoughtful, witty and self-deprecating friend through a city that friend knows and loves well." --The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

"Skillfully written. . . . Smith's Scotland . . . is a place where a profound, humane intelligence is at work." --New York Daily News

"Mr. Smith, a fine writer, paints his hometown of Edinburgh as indelibly as he captures the sunniness of Africa. We can almost feel the mists as we tread the cobblestones." --The Dallas Morning News

"Memorable. . . . The Sunday Philosophy Club will delight McCall Smith's existing fans and win him some new ones." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Charming. . . . Suspenseful. . . . A pleasant introduction to a woman readers will want to know more about." --Detroit Free Press

"A quiet mystery aimed in equal parts at the head and the heart." --The Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA)

"Devotees of Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series are certain to enjoy these new people and this new place. . . . To know Isabel Dalhousie is to like and admire her." --Chicago Tribune

"Readers will be immediately smitten with the interplay between the philosopher, her tradition-bound housekeeper Grace and her unlucky in-love niece Cat." --Ft. Myers News-Press

"An elegant mystery filled not with dead bodies but an air of gentle refinement, intelligence and insight. . . . Isabel is a true original." --Orlando Sentinel

* A charming and sophisticated new series from the Author of the Year from the British Book Awards, BA and Waterstone's Conferences, introducing a brilliant new female 'detective', Isabel Dalhousie.