Difficulties

As with No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, Alexander M. Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series presents the ethical dilemmas of everyday life in worlds with less innocency. Like Precious of Botswana, the Edinburgh characters in these novels dwell on the weakening of local customs and sensible values. Here, the wide cast of characters brings us descriptions of beautiful art (Henry Raeburn, Annie Redpath, Albert Morrocco) and poetry (Norman MacCaig, Robert Burns, W. H. Auden). In each novel, we get deeper into the life of six-year-old Bertie who is painfully micromanaged by his mother. He wants to go camping, play rugby, ride in trains, and join the cub scouts. She takes him to yoga and psychotherapy, to Italian and saxophone lessons. We cross our fingers for Bertie.