The Geometry of Holding Hands

Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh moral philosopher, is asked to become executor of a wealthy Highland estate whose owner has only months to live and cannot decide which of three cousins deserves his legacy. Simultaneously, she grows suspicious that her niece Cat's new boyfriend may have less innocent designs on the family trust than his leonine charm suggests. Alexander McCall Smith weaves both threads through Isabel's characteristic blend of ethical reflection and warm social observation.

Davina Porter has been the voice of Isabel Dalhousie throughout the series, and her performance by this thirteenth installment carries the warm familiarity of a long-standing relationship with a character the listener knows well. Her Scottish cadences give the Edinburgh setting its proper atmosphere, and her ability to convey Isabel's philosophical musings as genuine thought rather than authorial digression keeps the gentler pace from feeling static. Porter makes the series' pleasures feel inexhaustible.