44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

This is an out and out Scottish novel - characters live in 44 Scotland Street. Also, you have to leave the reader looking forward for more in the next chapter. This ensure the story is eventful as eventfulness is essential to engage interest in a serial. This books was first published as a serialized novel in the newspaper 'The Scotsman'. This book, by Alexander McCall Smith, turned out to be much better than those of 'No. I can't wait to see what the residents of Scotland Street are up to in the next series installment! Read more And what fun it turned out to be! And even better, McCall Smith finally worked in a little dollop of plot- like clotted cream on an already delicious scone- in the form of a hunt for a missing painting and romantic tension between two characters. I waited for a plot to reveal itself, reading impatiently until I realized that the fun was in the characters and their foibles and interactions. At first the story meandered along, describing the experiences of the residents of 44 Scotland Street as they went about their lives, with no particular direction apparent.

So my imagined two stars has materialized as four, and this is why.Īlexander McCall Smith has the gifts of keen social observation and witty, dry delivery that trump the relative uneventfullness of the book's plot.

And by three-quarters, magic happened and I couldn't put the book down. I'm not sure why I kept reading, but I did. And at one-quarter, I wasn't particularly enjoying this one. I can usually call a book by a quarter of the way in.

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith