The Careful Use of Compliments (2007)

Edinburgh sleuth —and philosophy journal editor — Isabel Dalhousie wonders why two brand-new paintings by a dead Scottish artist have suddenly come on the market in Alexander McCall Smith's The Careful Use of Compliments.

Grisliest Death

Suicide by whirlpool, more or less, in the place where a fierce ocean current collides with an underwater mountain.

Lowdown

As always, Isabel's relationships with her niece, Cat, and her lover, Jamie (with whom she's just had a baby), outshine the actual mystery. B