For philosophically minded Isabel Dalhousie editor of the Review of Applied Ethics getting through life with a clear conscience requires careful thought. & with the arrival of baby Charlie not to mention a passionate relationship with his father Jamie fourteen years her junior Isabel enters deeper & rougher waters. Late motherhood is not the only challenge facing Isabel. Even as she negotiates a truce with her furious niece Cat & struggles for authority over her son with her formidable housekeeper Grace Isabel finds herself drawn into the story of a painters mysterious death off the island of Jura. Perhaps most seriously of all Isabels professional existence & that of her beloved Review come under attack from the machiavellian & suspiciously handsome Professor Dove. A master storyteller whether debating ethics in Edinburgh or pursuing lady detectives in Africa here Alexander Mc Call Smith is as witty & wise as his irresistibly spirited heroine.