For the residents of 44 Scotland Street, life in Edinburgh's intriguing New Town is a thing to be relished. After all, there are new faces to excite Domenica's anthropological imagination, precious moments with his triplets for Matthew to savor, and the prospect of a trip to the promised land of Glasgow for young Bertie.

But there are mysteries that need solving, too. Could Angus Lordie's dog Cyril - the only dog in Scotland with a gold tooth - have unearthed a Neanderthal skull? Does the long-suffering Stuart have any hope of kindling a new relationship when Bruce, ever the navel gazer and consummate seducer, effortlessly steps into his pas de deux? And how will the patrons of Big Lou's cafe react to the menu's imminent culinary transformation?

The stories of this wonderfully vibrant cast may take unexpected turns, but the warmth and humor at Scotland's most recognizable address will ultimately affirm the joy life brings us all.

Listening Length

9 hours and 56 minutes
Author

Alexander McCall Smith
Narrator

Robert Ian Mackenzie
Audible release date

December 8, 2020
Language

English
Publisher

Recorded Books, Inc.
ASIN

B08N57LK3D
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 56 minutes
Author	Alexander McCall Smith
Narrator	Robert Ian Mackenzie
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	December 08, 2020
Publisher	Recorded Books, Inc.
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B08N57LK3D
Best Sellers Rank	#63,772 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #833 in Humorous Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #1,165 in Cozy Mysteries (Audible Books & Originals) #4,353 in Humorous Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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AdlerBooks

Neanderthals and Au Pairs, Oh My!

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020

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What a joy to be back on Scotland Street and environs! Angus encounters a Neanderthal (maybe), Matthew and Elspeth continually revise their life with triplets, Stuart remains ineffectual, Bruce works his magic, James the au pair becomes a more complete character, students move into 44 Scotland Street, and Bertie and Cyril each experience a well-deserved moment of triumph. (Glasgow, anyone?!) With Irene mostly in Aberdeen, psychotherapy, yoga, and Melanie Klein fade into obscurity this time around.
I missed the warm-hearted Big Lou as a major character in this installment, but I was especially disconcerted to read of Matthew and Elspeth reminiscing about their honeymoon in Jamaica, when they had such a dramatic honeymoon in Australia in *Unbearable Lightness of Scones." It was Angus and Domenica who honeymooned in Jamaica (see *Sunshine on Scotland Street*). Still, with a series this long and complex, some plot irregularities may be inevitable. In any case, Angus would recite a poem to recommend forgiveness, and I can go along with that.
A speedy and pleasurable reading experience in these pandemic days.

7 people found this helpful

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Terri Hunt

You wimmin r all feminazis! *waves fists in air*

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020

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Sigh. The author has put down his pen and picked up a sledgehammer. Ai yai yai, what a disappointment. Heavy-handed proselytizing about how women world-wide are bullying and dominating our poor menfolk and- gasp!- acting 'unfeminine' to boot, are not my thing. Of course this has been a recurring theme with this author all along, but it was occasional enough that I could grimace and move on. Not this time! "Ankles" is practically a screed, and he comes off in a distinctly I'm-an-old-man-get-offa-my-lawn way.

9 people found this helpful

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Susan O. Bachman

I think this book plays a structural game--crossword

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2021

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I agree with other reviewers that the plot bits seem disjointed at times. Yes, too much dialog of Sister Maria maybe. But gracious, we all know people who think and talk that way. Domineering people we can't restrain limit our freedoms. Bruce's domineering--as is Padruig's-- may seem over the top, but the profiles are believable enough.

I latched onto the search for the crossword puzzle clue "An air force man looks jaunty." I think the disjointed plot bits fit together...this is my 51% maybe....with the theme/topic/spirit of the final poem at the party. For this structural unity--as well as the realistic human portraits and casual references to works like Outlander,, nods to Scott, Burns, Donne, etc, and his other works (I've read most)--I think a 5 star is justified.

SPOILER: Unless I nodded, I don't think the solution Irene claims as child-like easy was ever revealed. It made me read on on the sequence level but also to keep testing how that solution might be revealed or insinuated. I think McCall Smith gently reminds us of that clue throughout the book. "Jaunty" comes up a few times, so do flying/fliers naturally with reference to the Johannesburg non-duke. Everyone is seeking some kind of high flying joy, some more nobly, others more sneakily. With jaunty comes the notion of "free," as the boys and Stuart and others gain some freedoms. I'll admit an early, clunky guess of mine was that somehow "freeway flier" might come into play. But I think Birdsong, with a soaringly free joy, just could be what comes of "air force" and jaunty as a crossword solution. Feel free to shoot me down with your better idea!

3 people found this helpful

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Sharon Marshall

My favorite series

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2020

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Love 44 Scotland Street characters. My husband is from Edinburgh and I lived there for a while. These characters resonate with me, love them all, have read every book in the series and many of his other series!

6 people found this helpful

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Michael M. Thomas

wonderful reading

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2020

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The 44 Scotland Street novels exude decency, charm, delight, fairness, intelliegence, sophistication. They are a complete, cosmopolitan, full-souled enriching antidote to modern life. I love them!!

6 people found this helpful

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Bicca

No plot line

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020

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I have read every book by Alexander McCall Smith and love Bertie. But this is the 1st time I have been disappointed.
I find myself skimming thru many pages of pointless dialogue. There is no meat to any of the story lines. I am not ready to give up on this author after so many wonderful books so I hope this is not a precursor of things to come.

3 people found this helpful

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Leah Klein

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2021

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The Scotland Street series used to be my favorite of all AMS's books, but the last two have been disappointing. At least the misogyny in this one is back down to a low simmer, but it brings up a lot of stories that just. . .go nowhere. We have a new group of tenants in the building, for example, but they don't produce any stories. Pat leaves for Paris and that's the last we hear of her, with no mention of how her romantic interest James is dealing with it. I keep reading this series for old times' sake, but I think I may skip the next one.

2 people found this helpful

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peachygirl

Wonderful.

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021

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What's NOT to like about the articulate, well-written, clever and always amusing Mr. Smith?
He is a master of the English language and therefore a pleasure to read. His characters are always intriguing, even the ones you love to hate. :)
I dearly love the 44 Scotland Street series, as well as the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, which I consider his masterpiece. It's always difficult waiting until his books are out in paperback!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Colin McIntosh

A Wonderful Visit with Old Friends

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2020

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That’s exactly what this series is to me. I devour them and the Dalhousie books. You feel so certain that you know each character and become immersed in their lives and the episodes that occur. You just want more and never want the book to end. Every book just makes you want these wonderful enigmatic people to come back to you quickly, just like friends you don’t see for a time but then pick up as if it were only yesterday. Roll on for the next instalment of Cyril, Bertie, Ranald and everyone at 44 Scotland Street.

20 people found this helpful

Plushrose

Disappointing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2020

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Too much Dreary Domenica. Chapter 28 Cyril is mentioned - at last - no - on we go with this woman who reminds me of Therasa May. Bertie was finally given a couple of chapters. So much 'poetry' filling up the pages. I think the author has lost interest in Scotland Street.

14 people found this helpful

IBart

Sad dreary meanderings!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2021

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The author wrote in this book that someone had become too popular- I feel that this might apply to himself. This is just a book full of jumbled ramblings. Whatever has happened to McCall
Smith of old? It was such a disappointment to read,I kept hoping there would be a spark, but there was not, nothing but damp squibs. There were numerous pages reprising previous text as if the reader were too stupid to remember what had been written in a earlier passage. This is an insulting tactic, used I fear, to fill up pages. Leave this book on the shelf and buy a different novel!

6 people found this helpful

Mart

Written for a very specific reader

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2021

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This book was written for erudite people. For people with knowledge of latin. For people who love poetry (?). For people who don’t mind reading chapters and chapters about an unidentified skull.
This book was not written for me.

5 people found this helpful

JE Howard

Series gone downhill

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

I was very disappointed in this. I've got all the other books in the series and have always eagerly awaited each new one but doubt if I'll be buying any more - certainly not before reading them in the library first.
1) There is too much talk and musings and not enough happening. I found myself skipping great swathes of conversation between characters or waffle from the author because it just wasn't interesting. There is also a lot of irrelevant detail - the genealogy of the owners of a hotel Matthew and Elspeth are staying in, for example, is really neither here nor there
2) Too much of what does happen is never followed up - for example, there is a lot at the very beginning about a group of students, or at least one of them, that have moved in to No 44 but other than a brief appearance to wash the common stair we don't see them again until the very end when two of them turn up to Domenica's inevitable party. Irene reappears very briefly but doesn't do much and we never actually see her leave again, though it's assumed that she does. Pat turns up only to give Matthew important news that again, we never hear any more about. Two senior members of the nudist organisation have a conversation, but nothing comes of it.
3) The glaring continuity errors that have been creeping in in recent volumes are exemplified by the author having completely forgotten that Matthew and Elspeth honeymooned in Australia: a couple of chapters are devoted to a flashback of a honeymoon in Jamaica. Meanwhile their children are now three years old, having gone backwards and forwards in the last book, while Bertie is still only 7 and Ulysses still only a pre-verbal baby.
4) I realise the plot and characters are meant to be over the top and unlikely, but suspension of disbelief is sometimes strained too far. What is Sister Maria-Fiore, evidently still a nun, doing away from her convent so long, without any apparent means of support or duties? What could make a nice young woman in a serious relationship be so egregiously rude as to suddenly abandon the man she's with to go off with someone else in mid-date? Nobody would do that to a friend, let alone a lover. Why would somebody trying to learn Gaelic think it would help to listen non-stop to recordings of Kenneth McKellar singing in English?
So, not really a success. I think AMS has run out of steam with this series and it's time he gave it up. It's a shame, because I've really enjoyed it up till now.

2 people found this helpful

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