The Uncommon Appeal Of Clouds

Key Features

• Winner of Author of the Year three times (BA, NIBBIES and Waterstones)

About the Book: The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds

In bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith's ninth tale of Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and sleuth, the victim of an important art theft appeals to her for help.

Isabel Dalhousie leads an enviable life in Edinburgh, with time for cloud-gazing, civilised conversation and good coffee from Cat's delicatessen. Alongside these pastimes, she must also keep pace with the varied pursuits of her musician husband and their young son Charlie, who is exhibiting the first, rather worrying signs of mathematical genius. But an unexpected appeal for help from a collector who has been the victim of an important art theft threatens to take her far outside of her comfort zone. As an incorrigible rescuer of others, Isabel can hardly refuse to assist in the collector's negotiations with those holding his beloved painting, however shadowy the circumstances may be.

About the Author: Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over eighty books on a wide array of subjects. For many years he was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and served on national and international bioethics bodies. Then in 1999 he achieved global recognition for his award-winning No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and thereafter devoted his time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the von Igelfeld series. His books have been translated into forty-six languages. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Elizabeth, a doctor.

Reviews

"Isabel is everything you'd want in a philosopher, but she is also quirky and witty and made more human by the longing she still sometimes feels for a beautiful but bad love in her past. Far from being Utopian, The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is filled with both spires and spikes, like Edinburgh itself." - Booklist (starred review)

"You need'nt be a series-long admirer of Isabel Dalhousie to be beguiled by this curious philosopher and casual sleuth .... A heroine worth following." - Publishers Weekly