1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels, begins a wonderful new series starring the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie. With The Sunday Philosophy Club, Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the best-selling and beloved No. Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction’s most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life’s questions, large and small. It is a city where respectability is highly valued, but, according to Isabel, is also built on hypocrisy.Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. The Edinburgh setting is a crucial element of The Sunday Philosophy Club. How surprising is the ultimate revelation of how Mark died, and why? How is the crime’s solution linked to the theme of truth and honesty? It is Neil who comes to Isabel and tells her of Mark Fraser’s knowledge of insider trading at his firm, thus turning the case into an investigation of a murder. Why is the novel called The Sunday Philosophy Club, if the club seems to be purely notional, never having met? Are readers the members of this club, as if by reading the novel they are entering into Isabel’s mind, which is constantly engaged in philosophical questioning? Isabel raises the question of unequal desire in love when she reflects, “We do not like those who are completely available, who make themselves over to us entirely.” Do you feel this accurately reflects Cat’s emotional reaction to Jamie? Does this explain Isabel’s continuing interest in John Liamor? Is Isabel correct in arguing for proximity as a basis for moral claims? Isabel insists, on the other hand, that the man who fell from the balcony entered her “moral space”-and that she therefore has a moral obligation to him.

In what ways is she a model female sleuth, and in what ways is she a surprising one? How does she compare with other female detectives in literature?Ĭat is annoyed at Isabel’s tendency to get involved in things that are none of her business. Isabel Dalhousie is a single, wealthy, literary woman of settled habits with a strong interest in moral behavior.

The sunday philosophy club