THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB

When Isabel Dalhousie sees a man fall from a balcony after a concert, she feels obliged to find out why he plummeted--was he pushed, did he jump, did he simply fall? As she says, "I was the last person that young man saw--don't you think that the last person you see on this earth owes you something?" Davina Porter creates a wonderful range of Scottish accents and delivers a fine-tuned narration in her native English voice for this first in Alexander McCall Smith's new series about Isabel Dalhousie, Scottish philosopher and sleuth. Porter's narrative skills are particularly important, as this book emphasizes description and gives its characters more philosophical reflection to perform than active sleuthing. Porter's varying tone and pacing keep the listener involved, and her interpretation of well-born but broad-minded Isabel is adroit. One finds that although Isabel ponders (one might even say dithers) somewhat excessively, one anticipates meeting her again. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]