I can’t believe that the day after I finished the last Scotland Street book (which was yesterday), Alexander McCall Smith is starting the serialization of his next one in the Scottish newspaper The Scotsman. Talk about good timing!!!! I’ll get to read this one as he writes it! ( )

Bertie gets a dog, his father revives an old relationship, Big Lou discovers her foster son is a talented ballet dancer and Pat finds possible boyfriend.

Stuart reconnects with an old acquaintance over refreshing peppermint tea while Bertie takes his friend Ranald Braveheart Macpherson to the circus. But their trip to the big top becomes rather more than the pleasant diversion they were hoping for. Once again, Scotland Street teems with the daily triumphs and challenges of those who call it home, and provides a warm, wise, and witty chronicle of the affairs in this corner of the world.

The 13th novel in McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series informs us that the hateful Irene has decamped to Aberdeen to pursue her PhD and the result is much happiness in the Pollock household. Bertie and his friend Ranald Braveheart McPherson sneak off for a day at the circus & end up getting a dog that they say they will share between them. Stuart is finally finding a relationship with someone who respects him & Grandmother Nicola is happily managing the household and making sure that she can undo the damage Irene has done over the years.

Pat almost falls for Bruce again, but is brought back to her senses by Matthew ho also manages to bring Pat together with someone she can really care for (and vice versa). Matthew also helps Big Lou find a way to send her young ward to ballet school while simultaneously providing Elspeth with s chance to do something fulfilling for herself.

As usually, I find myself skipping over the way too long ruminations of Angus and his wife, Dominica. (I am starting to actively dislike her.) But putting up with Dominica is a small price to pay when everyone else in this series is so charming. ( )

The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, I did something I don't normally do -- I read a serial book out of order. I'm saying this upfront because I think it was a bit of a disservice to the book, but also, at the same time, it speaks well of the book that about halfway through, it didn't really matter any more.

So I had read Espresso Tales quite some time ago, without reading the first in the series and I can't really remember what impact that had on me. However, it does seem that my exposure to the characters in Volume 13 (The Peppermint Tea Chronicles) was less-than because I hadn't read 11 other volumes. I had relatively little interest in Bertie and his selfish mother, Matthew and Elspeth and their male au pair, or Angus and Domenica. However, I stuck with it and the characters who instantly drew me in were Big Lou and Ranald Braveheart Macpherson (maybe I have a bias for interesting names?). Of course I enjoyed the dry whimsy of Alexander McCall Smith's writing from the first pages, but it took me a bit to truly care.

But I'm glad I did--care, that is. For if I had not, I might have missed the stunning bits of subtext and commentary on our modern times. From Stuart's Portuguese shoes to a startling but overt reference to affirmative action polemics and class hierarchy in Chapter 58, I truly appreciated how McCall Smith creates figures that are representatives of something bigger than the story itself. Perhaps my biggest praise of this volume is that it has made it seem obvious and necessary that I must go back and read volumes 1-12. That is the best of all possible worlds for a book in a series.

On a side note, I would love to know more about the author's shoe...fixation? fascination? From Mma Makutsi in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series to Stuart in 44 Scotland Street series, it feels like there may be fodder for a deeper exploration of shoes-as-trope in the author's oeuvre. ( )