THE SWEET REMNANTS OF SUMMER by Alexander McCall Smith

Mr. McCall Smith has written over 70 books. “His No 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series runs to 22 entries and his “Isabel Dalhousie” Series runs a close second with 14 books.  The most recent Dalhousie novel is titled The Sweet Remnants of Summer and it is a pleasant read.    

The heroine, Isabel Dalhousie, lives in Edinburgh with her husband, Jamie, a musician, and their two young sons. Isabel is a philosopher by trade and edits a publication called “The Journal of Applied Ethics.” She has often tried to make up for being independently wealthy by being a helper. As such, she has attracted a reputation for solving other people’s personal problems, but that does not keep her  bassoon playing husband from believing that she may be a bit too aggressive in her willingness to “get involved” in the lives of others.

If you are getting tired of books about serial killers or politicians who insist that all of their opponents are evil, lying, monsters who eat babies in their spare time, a McCall Smith book is an answer to your prayers. It comes with the fresh breeze of a Scottish summer and a love for the sights, sounds, and architecture of Edinburgh. The book is short enough to not demand a commitment of six weeks of hard labor to finish.  It also brings a gentleness, a sense of humor, and an approach to life that fills each of his characters with a sense of what might be if we all could just get along better with each other.

Ms. Dalhousie is the very model of a modern major woman, and as a philosopher, she sees moral dilemmas everywhere. Jamie, her husband, thinks she should stay out of helping people with family disruptions. This occurs even though, at the same time,  he would like to do something about the fact that he believes the conductor of his orchestra will be appointing an unqualified person to a position of importance. A third plot line begins with Isabel’s son’s teacher reporting that her son has bitten a classmate.  All three of the threads combine to make for philosophical considerations of motive, guilt, lying, and penchants toward solving problems with violence or revenge.   

I like these characters. I like this kind of story and I like the thought that we need poetry, kindness, and love to guide our lives. With the winter’s snow descending, we need more of all of those virtues, while we await the coming of spring.

Jim De Young  11/15/2022