The Charming Quirks of Others by Alexander McCall Smith, a review

The book: Charming and quirky

The author: Worth reading again

Review:

This was my first Isabel Dalhousie novel. I have no idea how many of them are in existence, but I shall go off in search of others. I am used to protagonists being quirky or having their own unique spin on life. This was the first novel I read in which the main character actually does something specific that I do: follows tangentially-related ideas until she realizes she has been completely ignoring whoever is supposedly waiting for her response. This includes smiling at inappropriate times, staring blankly at others, and typically making comments that are completely unconnected to the subject at hand.

Needless to say, I liked Isabel immediately.

In this book, Isabel has been asked to discretely determine which of three individuals has a skeleton in his closet. There is an actual back story given to explain why these three people are connected, but it's ultimately irrelevant. The end result is that someone wants everyone to be perceived in a poor light, and therefore sent off the letter that sparked Isabel's inquiry.

Everyone in the story has his or her own quirks, and that is really at the crux of the matter. Some of the quirks are more harmless than others. Some are downright criminal. Regardless, Isabel's quirk of responding to a question with a six-degrees-removed train-of-thought was entertaining enough to keep me reading.

Ultimately, she discovers all of the skeletons in numerous closets, and I was secretly disappointed that she chose to not reveal her hand to one character in particular, but liked the character enough to accept that decision. I shall not spoil the specifics for others who wish to read this novel. However, I will include a quote from page 250, which at least lets Isabel explain her opinion:

     "I'm sorry," she said. "I would normally give people the information to which they are entitled,
     but I do not think you deserve this information. So I shall not."

On the whole, Isabel is rather introverted, intelligent, and prone to random attacks of philosophy, which makes sense given that she considers herself to be a philosopher. It certainly makes it interesting when she comes up against those decisions about whether or not to show her cards. Finally, a detective of sorts who does not feel compelled to spill the beans when asked to do so!

I look forward to reading both past and future installments of Isabel Dalhousie's life story. Kudos to Alexander McCall Smith for his thought-provoking quirky story.