From Barnes & Noble
Once again confounding expectations, Alexander McCall Smith has written a mystery novel unlike any other. Inspired by a chance encounter with Tales of the City novelist Armistead Maupin, the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency decided to write a novel under the pressure of daily serialization. Originally published in 110 installments in The Scotsman, 44 Scotland Street recounts the intersecting lives of inhabitants of a multiple-occupancy building in Edinburgh. At the center of the entertaining entanglement is Pat, a 20-year-old gallery employee who makes a startling discovery about a lost masterpiece.
From the Publisher
The latest completely charming installment in the bestselling 44 Scotland Street series.
There is never a quiet moment on 44 Scotland Street. In The World According to Bertie, Pat deals with the reappearance of Bruce, which has her heart skipping—and not in a pleasant way. Angus Lordie's dog Cyril has been taken away by the authorities, accused of being a serial biter. Unexpectedly, Domenica has offered to help free him. As usual, Big Lou is still looking for love, and handing out coffee and advice to the always contemplative Matthew. And Bertie, the beleaguered Italian-speaking six year old prodigy, now has a little brother, Ulysses, who Bertie hopes will help distract his pushy mother Irene.
Beautifully observed, cleverly detailed, The World According to Bertie is classic McCall Smith and a treat for his avid fans as well as his first time readers.
The New York Times -
Elsa Dixler
It is clear even to an outsider that someone who knows Edinburgh would recognize many people and places in ''44 Scotland Street.'' But an outsider can still relish McCall Smith's depiction of this place ''of angled streets and northern light,'' and enjoy his tolerant, good-humored company.
Publishers Weekly
In this latest installment of McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series, Robert Ian Mackenzie portrays Bertie as the overly intelligent and articulate six-year-old that he is meant to be, but when Bertie is among his classmates Tofu, Hiawatha, Larch and Olive, Mackenzie is hard-pressed to individualize the children’s voices. A similar problem arises as more and more women are added to the cast. Now that Domenica and Antonia are neighbors, their voices are almost as similar as their flats. Miss Harmony, Bertie’s teacher, could be Antonia’s twin sister. While Mackenzie has clearly run out of new voices, he does better with his male characters, especially with Angus’s basso and Matthew’s hesitant voice that matches his timid demeanor. Mackenzie keeps this enjoyable, lighthearted romp moving along quickly. An Anchor paperback (Reviews, June 30). (Nov.)
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Publishers Weekly
Like Smith's bestselling Botswana mysteries, this book-comprising 110 sections, originally serialized in the Scotsman, that drolly chronicle the lives of residents in an Edinburgh boarding house-is episodic, amusing and peopled with characters both endearing and benignly problematic. Pat, 21, is on her second "gap year" (her first yearlong break from her studies was such a flop she refuses to discuss it), employed at a minor art gallery and newly settled at the eponymous address, where she admires vain flatmate Bruce and befriends neighbor Domenica. A low-level mystery develops about a possibly valuable painting that Pat discovers, proceeds to lose and then finds in the unlikely possession of Ian Rankin, whose bestselling mysteries celebrate the dark side of Edinburgh just as Smith's explore the (mostly) sunny side. The possibility of romance, the ongoing ups and downs of the large, well-drawn cast of characters, the intricate plot and the way Smith nimbly jumps from situation to situation and POV to POV-he was charged, after all, with keeping his newspaper readers both momentarily satisfied and eager for the next installment-works beautifully in book form. No doubt Smith's fans will clamor for more about 44 Scotland Street, and given the author's celebrated productivity, he'll probably give them what they want. Agent, Robin Straus. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Originally serialized in the Scotsman, this latest novel from Smith (The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency) revolves around the inhabitants of an Edinburgh apartment house. The newest resident is 20-year-old Pat, who rents a room from the slightly older and irresistibly handsome Bruce. Pat's eccentric neighbors include Dominica, an artsy and wise widow; Bertie, a five-year-old saxophone player; and Bertie's overbearing mother, Irene. In order to make ends meet, Pat takes a job as a receptionist at a nearby art gallery. Her boss is the ineffectual Matthew, whose father owns the gallery. When Pat gets a hunch that one of the gallery's paintings might be valuable, and then the piece of work goes missing, the action takes off. Other storylines include Bruce struggling over an appropriate career path and conflicted Bertie undergoing therapy. The novel is made up of several short chapters that leave the reader wondering what will happen next. This, along with McCall Smith's insightful and comic observations, makes for an amusing and absorbing look at Edinburgh society. Recommended for most popular fiction collections. [See also Smith's In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, reviewed in Mystery on p. 69.-Ed.]-Karen Core, Kent District Lib., Grand Rapids, MI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
One hundred more slices of life from 44 Scotland Street and environs (Love Over Scotland, 2007, etc.). The return of art student Pat's narcissistic former flatmate Bruce from London to Edinburgh tempts Pat to fall for him once more-a situation, as she sagely realizes, that's "precisely the sort of thing that novelists liked to write about." Not this novelist, however: Bruce insinuates himself into vapid, good-humored Julia's flat, and Pat gets on with her life, which is mainly devoted to discouraging the sincere, diffident advances of Matthew, her fabulously wealthy but hopelessly unglamorous boss at the Something Special Gallery. Back at 44 Scotland Street, anthropologist Domenica, returned from the Malacca Straits, is certain that her friend Antonia, who has taken the flat across the landing, nicked one of Domenica's Spode cups while she was minding her flat. Domenica's friend Angus hasn't been able to paint ever since his dog Cyril was accused of biting three neighbors and incarcerated, presumably to await a lethal injection. Downstairs from Domenica and Antonia, statistician Stuart and his overbearing wife Irene continue as the very model of dysfunctional parents, their family now expanded by the arrival of baby Ulysses, who's about to have quite an adventure for a four-month-old. But the heart of Smith's episodic tale, which combines selfishness and tenderness, blather and unexpected insight, is Ulysses' older brother Bertie, a six-year-old savant. Even though Irene has laid the groundwork for some serious sibling rivalry by demanding that he change his brother's nappies and help her express breast milk for him, Bertie's fondest wish is that Ulysses be spared the round of Mozart,saxophone lessons and psychotherapy with which his mother afflicts him. The best parts go to horrible Bruce, treasurable Bertie and Bertie's monstrous little schoolmate Olive. To be continued.
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