About the book

BOOK ONE IN THE MUCH-LOVED ISABEL DALHOUSIE SERIES Isabel Dalhousie knows that behind Edinburgh's Georgian facades, its moral compasses spin with greed, dishonesty and lust. As a philosopher, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and founder of the Sunday Philosophy Club, her business is to map the intricacies of human behaviour. But when she sees a man tumble from the balcony at the Usher Hall, it's her instinct that tells her strongly that he didn't fall: he was pushed. Isabel turns amateur sleuth in a bid to solve the mystery of the falling man, and what she lacks in official status she makes up for in contacts and informants, including her housekeeper Grace, her beautiful niece Cat, and Cat's ex-boyfriend Jamie, whose charms are causing Isabel to review her own ethics. PRAISE FOR THE ISABEL DALHOUSIE NOVELS: 'Isabel Dalhousie's charm is undeniable' Sunday Times 'The No. 2 Lady Detective . . . anyone who loves Precious cannot fail to be charmed' Mail on Sunday 'Delightful . . . McCall Smith is a writer who celebrates kindness, in short supply in the world today' Sunday Telegraph 'McCall Smith's greatest gift as a writer - and God knows this is just one of many - is that he can write likeable characters' New Statesman