44 Scotland Street

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


How is it that one author's characters turn out to be cardboard cutouts (I'm thinking of a book I reviewed just a few days ago) while another author's creations live and breathe marvelously, seemingly without any more effort?

It's not the number of words. It's not down to the amount of description. No, I can't put my finger on it, but it's the difference between a story that has a pulse and one that lies there, cold and inert.

Alexander McCall Smith has the gift of being able to create characters that live and breathe, and probably live next door. I wouldn't be surprised to run into any of the people that come and go from 44 Scotland Street.

And it's not just because I'm living in Scotland. I felt the same way about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (and the books that followed). The characters are just like people you'd meet on the street -- identifiable, each with their own quirks and way of seeing the world, with their own likes and dislikes, their own life history, and so on.

44 Scotland Street also has a somewhat familiar storyline, if you've read any of the No. 1 Ladies' series. The premise is that completely ordinary, everyday events have a tinge of mystery to them, if looked at in the right way.

This, I believe, is Alexander McCall Smith's genius and part of what makes his books so endearing. Everything that happens in this story is something that could easily happen to anyone -- and yet, there's that suspenseful tension holding them all together.

Looking for a flat in the city, finding a new job in an art gallery, or having a crush on one's housemate might not sound like elements of a mystery. Yet when Pat moves in to 44 Scotland Street, she steps into a world where she will struggle to understand others' motivations and her own... desires.

Ooh, I've made it sound steamy! (It isn't.) But you'll meet some LOVELY people, listen in on some wonderful conversations, and feel sympathy, affection, admiration, annoyance (or worse) -- you'll be bound to feel something for each of the very individual characters.

Whether it's narcissistic personality disorder, a lifetime of privilege, or the uncertainty of being twenty and on one's own, these are human issues in a very human world.

I listened to this in audio, narrated by the very Scottish Blythe Duff, and it was an absolute treat!

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