Even on perfect summer evenings in Edinburgh, there are many shocks to her ethical equilibrium that keep Isabel Dalhousie awake at night. The underhand Christopher Dove is still determined to oust Isabel from
the Review of Applied Ethics, while her old foe, the deeply dislikeable and possibly downright wicked Minty Auchterlonie, makes an appeal for help that cannot be ignored. And there is the seismic change in her life wrought by her overwhelming love for her young son, Charlie, and her fiancé, Jamie.
Whether biting her lip on a hasty assumption or taming her unruly emotions, Alexander McCall Smith's sharp-eyed heroine is reminded of the value of kindness, and of the lost art of gratitude.