The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series #7) »

Law professor Alexander McCall Smith had already written more than 50 books before inventing the heroine for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series: Precious Ramotswe, the only female P.I. in Botswana. The books are as unconventional as their good-humored heroine, who relies on common sense -- and a few tidbits gleaned from Agatha Christie -- to solve her cases.

In this latest and most felicitous addition to the Isabel Dalhousie series, our  inquisitive heroine comes to see that there are very few of us who are not flawed . . . herself included.
 
Isabel has been asked for her help in a rather tricky situation: A successor is being sought for the headmaster at a local boys’ school. The board has three final candidates but has received an anonymous letter alleging that one of them has a very serious skeleton in the closet. Could Isabel discreetly look into it? And so she does. What she discovers about all the candidates is surprising, but what she discovers about herself and about Jamie, the father of her young son, turns out to be equally revealing.
 
Isabel’s investigation will have her exploring issues of ambition, as well as of charity, forgiveness, and humility, as she moves nearer and nearer to some of the most hidden precincts of the heart.
 
Here is Isabel Dalhousie at her beguiling best: intelligent, insightful, and with a unique understanding of the quirks of human nature.

Publishers Weekly

Isabel, moral philosopher and amateur detective, living in McCall Smith’s Edenic Edinburgh, has plenty of time between investigations to ponder the pettiness of her neighbors and engage in self-introspection. The case demanding her expertise requires her to probe into the backgrounds of three candidates for a headmaster’s job at a local boys’ school, instigated by a mysterious anonymous letter. But Isabel’s investigations are secondary to her quotidian preoccupations. The series is charmingly narrated by Davina Porter, who has locked in her portrayals of Isabel, Jamie, and their son, Charlie. As usual, Porter settles on just the right tone for every newcomer. She provides McCall Smith fans with another dead-on performance worth lingering over. A Pantheon hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 16). (Oct.)