The Careful Use of Compliments

I had pretty much given up on Smith's Isabel Dalhousie books. Then I ran across some encouraging words about this latest Isabel Dalhousie book and I sought it out. I'm glad I did. Smith gives Isabel a little bite in this installment of the series, a bite she (in my vho) needed; Isabel had always felt like a bit of a namby-pamby, a person observing life, not living it. Now Smith has tossed her smack dab into life where she can no longer sit on the sidelines and bemusedly watch other people make horrible mistakes in their lives.