I don't quite know what to make of this book. The novel is part of a series of books about a Scottish woman named Isabel Dalhousie. She is a philosopher by trade (no, really) and, I guess, a sort of detective, only her "mysteries" are those of the human character. The plot is a bit like a Seinfeld episode, consisting of small, daily interactions, only with likeable characters and lots of insight and reflection. But the reflections can be kind of intrusive -- the protaganist is always launching into these little rhetorical flights in response to the most mundane things. Much of the dialogue and Isabel's trains of thought seem contrived and make jarring leaps. I might try another of his novels, but this one was middling.