The Charming Quirks Of Others
by Smith, Alexander McCall
The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (Sunday Philosophy Club #7) finds our curious heroine searching for the secret behind the candidates vying for the headmaster position at a friend's alma mater.
As usual, the investigation turns up just as many personal issues as they do business, and Isabel's investigation will find her delving deeper into her own heart.
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On Nov 13, 2010, feeney said
I found little to like in THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS. A dozen "major" characters roll aimlessly about today's Edinburgh, bouncing off one another's egos and hurt psyches like billiard balls. In her many conversations, moral philosopher Isabel Dalhousie flits by association from one unrelated idea to another. Sometimes her interlocutors take her lame associations of ideas for wisdom. *** Isabel does a lot of walking through various parts of Scotland's ancient capital. And this "quirk" is inded "charming" as well as healthy. It also rings true from my visits: the townspeople are tremendous walkers. Still, Isabel becomes so distraught after an emotional confrontation with a rival for her fiance's affection that she has to take a taxi back home after walking to her showdown. And this allegedly very academic moral professional philosopher receives and accepts advice about what to do from the canny cabbie. It is hard to imagine a Scottish doctor or lawyer of any period doing the same stooping for advice. Author Smith's passing treatment of Sir Walter Scott's home at Abbotsford is all surface, and very tired and unconvincing surface at that. *** The underlying plot: Dalhousie is engaged in an evil cause by a married woman. The plan is to shoot down the candidacies of three men to become headmaster of a private Scottish school for boys 8 - 18. The incumbent, after a dozen years presiding, is about to depart for a headmastership in SIngapore. And an anonymous letter handwritten in green ink says that there is some unspecified something wrong hovering over one unidentified candidate. Isabel Dalhousie, after perfunctory prying, discovers nothing earthshakingly bad about any of the three men and so reports to the the powerful man behind the research committee, the husband of the woman who has engaged her. Relying as always on her moral intuition rather than evidence, it dawns on Isabel while in the act of making her report that she knows who wrote the letter and why. Isabel declines rather prissily, however, to tell the great man doing the search why his wife wants the current headmaster to remain on. Dalhousie hopes instead to herself, charitably, that all adulterers and/or power-mad persons involved will find personal happiness! *** Edinburgh in its day has been famous for its medical men, its moral philosophers, its Presbyterian divines. No more: certainly not the anemic Edinburgh of Isabel Dahousie. A more bloodless, at sea, morally bankrupt cast of boring, effete lost souls may not exist elsewhere in fiction. They bumble about a great city and a country (Scotland) resembling a wee village, where everyone who counts knows or can allegedly find everything needful out about anyone else. And, ostensibly, there is nothing edifying to find or to know. Recommendation: avoid THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS. -OOO-
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The Charming Quirks of Others
by Alexander McCall Smith
- Condition
- Used - Fine+ in Fine+ dust jacket
- Edition
- First Edition; First Printing
- Published
- 2010
- Binding
- Hardcover
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New York: Pantheon. Fine+ in Fine+ dust jacket. 2010. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. A very fine copy in a like DJ, flat signed by the author. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; Signed by Author . Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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- 2010-10-11
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Pantheon, 2010-10-11. hardcover. Fine/Very Good. 5x0x8. Signed. SIGNED 1st/1st like new hardcover with dustjacket.Your purchase benefits literacy and summer reading programs in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio. We ship every business day. All books ship in cardboard bookfolds with delivery confirmation. Sets or unusually heavy items ship in a box. Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others
by Alexander McCall Smith
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- 2010
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London: Little, Brown, 2010 Book. Very Good. Brown Cloth Boards. 1st Edition. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Isabel Dalhousie investigates a poison-pen letter and finds her way through moral mazes. 246pp. Cream lettering to spine. Slight forward lean to spine, tiny mark to top edge and former owner's label to endpaper, otherwise very good copy in very good… Read more about this item Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others
by Smith, Alexander McCall
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A 1st ed. good+ paperback, crinkle & other signs of wear on covs. as in image,spine not creased, text block clean/tight. 248p. 23,5x15,5cm. 400gr. Item Price
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The Charming Quirks Of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Novels) Book 7
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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Abacus, 2011-08-03. paperback. Very Good. 9x6x2. Posted within 1 working day. 1st class tracked post to the UK, Airmail tracked worldwide. Robust recyclable packaging. Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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London, England: Little, Brown, 2010. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. British First. Some edge wear to boards and dust jacket; otherwise a solid, clean copy with no marking or underlining; collectible condition.. Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (Isabel Dalhousie Novels)
by Alexander McCall Smith
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The Charming Quirks of Others [SIGNED COPY, FIRST PRINTING]
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2010. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Fine in fine dust jacket. SIGNED by the author on the title page (signature only). 1st edition, 1st printing, complete number line. As new. Original purchase receipt laid in. A Sunday Philosophy Club novel by the Dagger in the Library- and Swedish Academy of Crime Writers'… Read more about this item Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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Pantheon Books, 2010. Hardcover. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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The Charming Quirks of Others [SIGNED COPY, FIRST PRINTING]
by Smith, Alexander McCall
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THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS.
by SMITH**, ALEXANDER McCALL:
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UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NMINT/FINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price- clip (£17.99) to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,colour pictorial artwork/design by Adam McCauley with blue,green,brown+yellow lettering illustrated dw/dj; with negligible shelf- wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Approx,central 1/3rd of rear,top edge of dw/dj affected by a light crease.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and pristine - no dog-ear reading creases… Read more about this item Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by Alexander McCall Smith
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The Charming Quirks Of Others
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
- Condition
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Pantheon, 2010-10-12. First American Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8x5x1. Stated First edition, first printing, full number line starting with "1". Dust jacket intact and in good condition with minor edgewear and a small 1/8" tear on bottom edge of spine. Text block is clean, bright and tight, no markings, corner creases or other defects noted.. Unconditional money… Read more about this item Item Price
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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie Series)
by McCall Smith, Alexander
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Charming Quirks Of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
by Smith, Alexander McCall
- Condition
- Used - Vg/Vg Prev. Owner Bookplate W/ Name Inked Out Inside. Faint Edgewear. Dj In Mylar Wrap. Pages Clean & Tight. Pages: 256
- Jacket Condition
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- 1st Us Edition
- Published
- 2010
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- Hardcover.
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Vancouver, Washington, USA
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New York: Pantheon Books. Vg/Vg Prev. Owner Bookplate W/ Name Inked Out Inside. Faint Edgewear. Dj In Mylar Wrap. Pages Clean & Tight. Pages: 256.. 2010. 1st Us Edition. Hardcover.. Item Price
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