In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s bestselling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart, this one a transplant.
When Isabel’s niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly plagued with memories of events that never happened to him. The situation appeals to Isabel as a philosophical question: Is the heart truly the seat of the soul? And it piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories be connected with the donor’s demise? Of course, Grace, Isabel’s no-nonsense housekeeper, and Isabel’s friend Jamie think it is none of Isabel’s business. Meanwhile, Cat brings home an Italian lothario, who, in accordance with all that Isabel knows about Italian lotharios, shouldn’t be trusted … but, goodness, he is charming.
That makes two mysteries of the heart to be solved, just the thing for Isabel Dalhousie.
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"I enjoyed this book slightly more than the other one we read by this author (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency). I actually really enjoyed the entire book, except for the ending which seemed to me abrupt and dissatisfying, like it didn't tie up the story very well. The other thing I did not understand about the book was why some of the words, phrases etc. that the author used throughout the story was bolded. It didn't just seem to be proper names. Lastly, the author obviously used a thesaurus when writing this because there were many times he used words I've never even seem before (and I read a lot). I was too lazy to look the words up - although he did use them effectively within the context of the story so I didn't NEED to look the words up."
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Kristine (4 out of 5 stars)