After I got hooked on McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, whenever my sweet husband stopped by an English bookstore, he would pick up whichever McCall Smith book they had that I didn’t have yet. Regardless of the series.
Thus, I was introduced to all four of his series. While each series is different, and the detective agency one seems to be the best selling, I enjoy all of them. The main characters make the books. The way McCall Smith writes, we hear all of the thinking that goes on inside the heads of the main characters. They are very open with their thoughts. Maybe even innocent in expressing their opinions and feelings.
In the Isabel Dalhousie series, the main character edits a magazine. A magazine on applied ethics – versus moral theory. Not only does she edit the magazine, she is constantly thinking about the ethics of each decision she makes each day, and shares these mini “dilemmas” with the reader freely.
While the plots of the books are slow moving, there is enough there to make me want to read the next book sometime. Isabel Dalhousie’s thinking challenges me to think ethically about my daily life.
I love novels with a purpose.
