The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds, Alexander McCall Smith

Amelia Fais Harnas, Self-Portrait as Saint Pompette, No. 2, 2012 

(March 22) I was quite enjoying this -- there were some nice complicated problems lining themselves up for Isabel to solve, and so many interesting little questions:

- the stew decision at the pot luck dinner
- the unused china gift
- the woman with the port wine stain
- the no-cucumber-sandwiches visit
- the untrustworthiness of Duncan Marlowe (Isabel quite likes him, but he gets angry too easily and too often; it would be all too typical for Isabel to like him and then watch him turn out to be out a crook, because, as we know, Isabel is almost always dead wrong -- but I was so looking forward to the thwarting of the trust!)

And then, BANG, the book was suddenly over with a note to all the suspects claiming the mystery has been solved....

***
I wrote the above right after I read the book, followed by about another thousand words of high dudgeon berating Alexander McCall Smith and enumerating all my grievous disappointments in this book, along the lines of this review http://www.amazon.com/The-Uncommon-Appeal-Clouds-Dalhousie/product-reviews/0307949230?pageNumber=2 and many like it on Amazon.

Now, a year later, writing this up, I feel more forgiving and nostalgic about the book and about Alexander McCall Smith in general -- he is so entertaining, he has given me so many hours of entertainment... I am grateful for his every word.