The Enigma of Garlic

The Enigma of Garlic

ISBN: 9780593685198
Publisher: Anchor Books (Penguin Random House)
Publication Date: 11 April 2023
The Enigma of Garlic is the 16th book in the 44 Scotland Street series

The Enigma of Garlic – the latest installment in the charming and congenial 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents of Scotland’s most celebrated address up to their usual hilarious hijinks.

It’s the most anticipated event of the decade – Big Lou and Fat Bob’s wedding – and everyone is invited! But the relative peace and tranquillity of 44 Scotland Street is about to be disrupted. Domineering Irene is set to return for a two-month stay, consigning young Bertie to a summer camp. Not content with that, she somehow manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her friend, the hagiographer, Antonia Collie. And can a person really change, even after being struck by lightning? Bruce Anderson’s metamorphosis and new-found outlook on life is put to the test as he prepares to leave his creature comforts for the monastic simplicity of Pluscarden Abbey. His house sitter, meanwhile, gets a little too comfortable in his new life and discovers that his talented employer’s shoes are all too easy to slip into. With great taste comes great responsibility.

Alexander McCall Smith’s delightfully witty, wise and sometimes surreal comedy spirals out in surprising ways in this new installment, but its heart remains where it has always been, at the center of life in Edinburgh’s New Town.

Read more about your favourite Scotland Street characters here.

Reviews

‘Shines with wisdom and humour about the human heart’
Country Life Magazine
‘A unique publishing phenomenon that has sparked a mini tourism boom’
The Scotsman
‘Impressive… newcomers shouldn’t shrink from sampling the author’s picaresque – its episodic structure makes it easy to dive in at any point – and there is as much wit and wisdom in the way McCall Smith portrays Scotland and its people as there is in his phenomenally popular No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels’
Sydney Morning Herald