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Dec 14, 2010

Joanna rated it:

I wasn't crazy about the narrator. She's too airy to narrate a whodunit. The protagonist, Isabel Dalhousie, is the editor of an ethics magazine and the asides about ethics and philosophy are as dry as they sound - the ethical quandaries she finds herself in aren't engaging. And she needs a flaw - committing ethical hypocrisy, farting in an elevator, something. It's no wonder she can't get the Sunday Philosophy Club together because she's so boring! (Why is that the name of the book when they ne More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2009

Ellie rated it:

To be honest, I'd have to call this series a guilty pleasure. The plotlines don't always ring true to life, although I've never been a wealthy philosopher living in Scotland, with a major crush on my niece's ex-boyfriend, an oboe player wh's at least a decade younger than me. I'm not as intellectual as Isabel, or as nosy, but I happen to love anyone who ponders the bigger moral questions in life, and who loves a crossword puzzle and a cup of freshly brewed coffee. So there you have it. Although More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2008

Sharon rated it:

I didn't think I would like this series as I found myself comparing Isabel to Precious (from the author's other series 'The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency). The contrasts were obvious.Isabel Dalhousie is a very different heroine from Precious. Where Precious was a gentle simple soul Isabel is complex creature. Precious accepts life as it is and Isabel wonders why? As time went on I found myself growing fond of Isabel. She is just as fascinating a creature as Precious once you understand her.
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0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2007

Meg rated it:

An interesting and light read about Isabel, an independently wealthy single woman who is a moral philosopher especially interested in ethics of morality. This interest colors her view of even simple gestures in ilfe which is what makes the story interesting. She is a bit of a detective, working at mysteries of peoples' actions through the eyes of her moral responsibility to get involved in them. How does this guy write so many books so fast?!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2007

Amanda rated it:

Once you discover Isabelle Dalhousie, just like Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies No. 1 detective agency, you won't want to stop reading. Isabelle is a philospher who reviews an obscure philosophy journal and in her free time, pries into others affairs. Not action packed, but rather filled with insights into human nature and observations about culture and society.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2008

Laura rated it:

Wonderful read! It was one of the only "big kid books" I've read this year and I loved it. A real page turner. The author sometimes has some pompous asides but Jason tells me that he's a really cool guy in real life- so I forgive him.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2008

Kt. rated it:

Great characters. Poorly written. The others in the series are better I hear. His other series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is excellent. Don't know what happened with this one. Ick.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2008

Will rated it:

Smith has created yet another female detective. This time it is Isabel Dalhousie, an independent 40-something who leads the club of the title. She is not a professional like Mma Rowatse of the number 1 ladies detective agency series, but a gifted amateur in the manner of Miss Marple. She is a lady of independent means so never needs be concerned about having to handle the mundane to put haggis on the table. The Edinburgh setting certainly gives it a more British setting than can be found in Afri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Abbi rated it:

While I love Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency Series, I was less into this book. He follows a similar pattern and writing style in that he focuses on the characters, with the mystery being secondary. The problem is that I found the characters mildly interesting, and the solution to the mystery somewhat boring. Also, I felt the title had little to nothing to do with the book, other than a mention of the Sunday Philosophy Club. With Mma Ramotswe, I was fascinated from the first cha More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2011

John rated it:

I was just telling a friend that I rarely leave two-star reviews, but this is one of them. I probably wouldn't have read the entire book (Davina Porter's usual terrific narration notwithstanding), except for the resolution of the "mystery" presented at the outset; to avoid a spoiler, I'll leave it that Smith handles that aspect well in terms of a surprise.
What isn't handled so well are the characters - there wasn't a single one I care to hear about enough to read the second book More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2008

Rachel rated it:

I got the book on cd from the library to read this book. Then I put it in my car and listened to snippets as I drove. It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to finish it and for this purpose I enjoyed it. Although, I definitely had problems with it. For starters, the philosophy club isn't in that much of the book, so it is kind of a misleading title. The somewhat juicy romance doesn't quite pay off the way you think it will. Also, the mystery Isabelle stumbles on to is pretty cliched.
The part More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 24, 2008

Katie rated it:

With all due respect to McCall Smith's fans, I couldn't stand this book. I'm sure there are many folks out there who loved it--it was, after all, a national bestseller--but I found it much too British-upper-class for my taste. The book, for a cheap little large-ish-print paperback mystery, is way too heady and intellectual for what, to me, looks like a "beach book". Ninety percent of the book was taken up by this woman's philosophical ramblings over why she is or isn't in love with More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 17, 2008

Nicola rated it:

I've read other McCall Smith series (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Scotland Street and the Igelfeld books) and enjoyed them so I thought I'd give this one a go.

I didn't enjoy it quite as much as some of the others books, but it was very well written and I'll definitely read the next one in the series as I'm interested in where the characters are going. I especially like the way in which AMS gives information on the background of his characters without being too obvious "Here's More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 25, 2008

jill rated it:

Okay, I have always read this author's name as "Alexandra McCall Smith," I guess because his really famous series is that African ladies' detective club one, and I'm a big sexist jerk. I was telling my mom about the books I'd picked up at the Richmond Public Library book sale, and she had to correct me. Oops.
I didn't enjoy this much. The mystery wasn't very interesting. I didn't care for the subplot about the niece's love-life or the sub-subplot about the main character's lost More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2007

Rebecca rated it:

This is the first book in the Isabel Dalhousie series, and while fans of the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency series will recognize the folksy and cozy narrative style, Isabel Dalhousie is a different kind of protagonist than Mma Ramotswe.

Like the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency books, this story is not plot driven, but character driven. Like the Homer Kelly mysteries of Jane Langton, Alexander McCall Smith's mysteries tend to be on the lighter side (relatively gore-free), but filled More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2007

Martha rated it:

I love the fact that Isabelle Dalhousie is the president and cofounder of a Sunday philosophy club that can never get around to meeting because Sunday is such a bad day....I also like her categorizations of people. For example, she believes in the existence of the "profoundly unreasonable," a small subclass of people who are beyond any reasonableness of solving their own problems or their problems with the interactions of others. I also like her belief that one must have a "moral More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Can you tell I have been reading through most of Alexander McCall Smith's books lately? It has been a bit of a sad summer for me and his books have filled a real need to escape for a few minutes to foreign destinations. In this series of books, we meet a Scottish heroine, a philosopher named Isabel, who lives alone and is quite independent yet lonely. She is exactly my age, 42! :)

Isabel has a habit of involving herself in other people's lives...in this novel she witnesses someone More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

Sandie rated it:

I tried this because I liked The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of which I have read 2 0r 3. This one is set in Edinburgh and the protagonist is actually a young woman philosopher. When she is at a concert she sees a young mand fall from the upper balcony and wonders if it was an accident or something more. This was OK for escape reading but not great. Perhaps I would like it better if I had visited Edinburgh.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Kate rated it:

Although Isabel, the main character, is described as being in her early 40s I kept picturing someone at least 25 years older. The prim, didactic editor of a small journal of applied philosophy gets herself mixed up in investigating the death of a young man at the symphony, and her sheltered life is mildly disrupted as she tries to figure out whether he was murdered. I found Isabel's incessant philosophizing and moral navel-gazing irritating; as most of the book is told from her point of view wit More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Lizzy rated it:

This book is the start of a great series by the same author as the popular No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. It takes place in Edinburgh and stars Isabel Dalhousie, editor of a philosophy periodical focusing on ethical issues. In this first installment, Isabel is drawn into a bizarre affair when she sees a young man fall to his death one night at the opera. She feels that, as she was the last person he saw on earth before he died, she owes it to him to look into the cause of his death. Was More...

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Feb 21, 2009

Megan rated it:

While nowhere near as endearing as the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, this very low-key mystery was enjoyable in it's own right. This is a quite pleasant mystery story. Most mysteries have a bit more excitement than this one does; It's very British--lots of stopping to drink tea, and philosophizing about ethics and morals.
Perhaps I enjoyed it because Isabel Dalhousie has a life so far removed from mine. She's a single woman in her 40's of independent means. She edits a Philosophy journa More...

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Jan 30, 2009

Gayle rated it:

Alexander McCall Smith is best known for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, of which I am a fan. He has another series featuring Isabel Dalhousie, a cultured and wealthy Scottish lady (and I use the term advisedly), which sounds far more like my usual preference than a genial African woman. So I began the first book in the Dalhousie series, The Sunday Philosophy Club, with great anticipation.

Alas, my hopes foundered. It started off well enough; Isabel sees a man fall past her More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Vivian rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 26, 2012

Richard rated it:

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Report: Isabel Dalhousie is a quiet, contented woman. She's got all the money she will ever need, she lives in a comfortable home where she grew up, she has survived the ghastly experience of loving a rotten man. She edits the Review of Applied Ethics because she's a philosopher, and because she's extremely interested in the subject of ethics (see above re: rotten man), and because she doesn't need any money or want any fame.

It's a quiet life. More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Paulina rated it:

I really cant understand how I made it through the this book. I kept pushing myself to finish and when I did I started the next in the series! It is the oddest kind of book where nothing happens, there's no excitement or drama, and lots of questions are asked with no resolution. Having started this right after The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo series it was a welcome reprive from the rather depressing setting in Sweden. My biggest gripe is that the author doesnt seem to be in touch with women in th More...

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Aug 09, 2011

Emma rated it:

I have to say that I struggled to warm to the character of Isabel Dalhousie as I have warmed to Precious Ramotswe in Alexander McCall Smith's No1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I found her a little difficult to fully grasp and the storyline a little disappointing.

Dalhousie is a 40-something year old living in Edinburgh where she edits the Review of Applied Ethics. The opening of the novel is quite dramatic as Isabel witnesses a young man fall to his death from the gods in a theatre. She be More...

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Feb 13, 2011

Becky rated it:

Isabel Dalhousie, the fortyish editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, lives comfortably in Edinburgh in a house filled with art. She's got a morning room that looks out onto the garden; there's even a fox in the garden. Her mornings are spent with coffee and crosswords, followed by philosophical musings and a few hours of work (she lives on an inheritance, and her editorial work is more a labor of love than a living).

As The Sunday Philosophy Club opens, Isabel is at the symphony, ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2011

Chris rated it:

I had an inconsistent hodgepodge of reactions to this book. For all that it was excellently crafted with very human characters, I do not recommend it. Deserves 4 stars for being well written, 2 for how much I liked it.

Complaint #1 (less important, but more readily apparent): too high-brow, with humor I could recognize but not understand without a working familiarity of Scottish poetry and philosophical theory. And the whole novel was written at the pace of a Sunday Philosophy Club--whe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 10, 2010

Natalie rated it:

Four stars with a qualifier: you have to read the whole book & give it a chance. I really liked the book. It was suspenseful, intelligent and romantic. This is what happened to me. I forced myself to read the first half out of sheer loyalty to Alexander McCall Smith. The next fourth I had to read as a fan of a good murder mystery, and the last 1/4, I couldn't put down & I am absolutely waiting to get my second in the series in the mail soon. I think the reason for the painful beginning was just More...

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Oct 13, 2009

Anne Hawn rated it:

As with most of Alexander McCall Smiths books, the plot is only half the story. This series is about Isabelle Dalhousie, an educated middle aged woman living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She reviews magazine articles for a Philosophy of Ethics journal and is a member of the Sunday Philosophy club if and when it meets. We not only get a picture of her comfortable life, but a treatise on the ethical dilemmas of everyday life.

I found the ethical delemmas to be extremely interesting. Wh More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)