This is the latest in the Sunday Philosopy Club series by Alexander McCall Smith. I am thinking of getting a new book case just to house his books alone as he publishes at an amazing rate. I still have the last two in the Scotland Street series to read, but will save these up for Christmas as I think they are gorgeous reads and will fit the holiday mood well.
I was not sure whethter I was going to enjoy this series when it started, it was a tad too slow moving for me and nothing much seemed to happen. But I was drawn in and, as I have said before, here, things do happen. They are not linked to sudden death, murder or mayhem, they are quiet events which require a struggle with one's conscience and Isabel constantly wondering if she is doing the right thing. Being a 
philosoper makes this process difficult for Isabel as she can see both sides of an argument and the rights and wrongs of each situation. 'Trouble is, you think too much' she is told by her housekeeper Grace.
In The Careful Use of Compliments, Isabel is a mother. She has a son, Charlie, by Jamie the younger man who she has loved for some time and which slow affair we have watched progress with each book. Jamie used to be involved with her niece, Cat, and though he was dumped by her, Cat is furious with her aunt for 'stealing him' and even more upset that she now has a child. As well as contending with this tricky situation, Isabel finds she is no longer wanted at the Review of Applied Ethics of which she has been editor for some years, and is being ousted by another member of the board who is after the post himself.
The main thrust of this story, however, concerns the provenance of a painting by a long dead artist which has appeared on the market, and which Isabrl thinks is a forgery. She begins to investigate the background and discovers that the artist in question committed suicide after his wife ran off with another man and his work was savaged by art critics. He vanished into the sea off a remote island in Scotland.
Or did he?
These quiet elegant books are seriously addictive as are all of Alexander McCall Smith's output, and as another First Ladies Detective Agency is due to be published early in 2008, I cannot see my going cold turkey at any time in the future...
