A Time of Love and Tartan (A 44 Scotland Street Series) by Alexander McCall Smith

Hardback:  With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment - A Time of Love and Tartan (2017) - in this popular series, now running in its twelfth season in the Scotsman, making it the longest running serial novel ever.  What trials are in store for Bertie and the gang this year?

Changes are afoot in Scotland Street, where small things can be of great consequence.  A colossal embarrassment follows Pat Macgregor's ill-advised coffee with narcissistic ex-boyfriend Bruce.  If Matthew, her boss at the art gallery, had not wandered into his local bookshop and picked up a particular book at a particular time, he would never have knocked over his former English teacher or attracted the attention of the police.

Meanwhile, other residents are moving onwards and upwards.  Stuart's application for promotion and his wife Irene's decision to study for a PhD in Aberdeen mean alterations to life in serial fiction's favourite street.  But, as Stuart's son Bertie finds out, sometimes change can lead to sudden, unexpected happiness too.

Alexander McCall Smith's delightfully witty, wise and sometimes surreal comedy spirals out to include bogus head-hunters in Papua New Guinea, an exchange visit of Rwandan forest people and the adventures of a class of seven-year-olds with Waiting for Godot.  And its heart remains where it has always been - true to life, love and laughter in Edinburgh's New Town.

About the author:  Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world's most prolific and most popular authors.  For many years, he was a professor of medical law, then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty-five million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty-six languages and become bestsellers throughout the world.

These include the 44 Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in the Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the von Igelfeld series and the Corduroy Mansions novels.  His novel, Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party, was winner of the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction.

Alexander McCall Smith is Professor Emeritus of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from thirteen universities.  In 2017, he received the National Arts Club of America Medal of Honour for Achievement in Literature.

Rating:  5/5