Love Over Scotland

A 44 Scotland Street Novel

By: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by: Robert Ian MacKenzie

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Internationally best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith, creator of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, offers the third installment from his popular Scotland Street series. The endearing denizens of 44 Scotland Street soldier on, both domestically and across the globe, in this entertaining mosaic that is filled with the author's trademark wit and charm.

©2007 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2007 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"As addictive as any book McCall Smith has written." ( Publishers Weekly)

The Best Yet!

Alexander McCall Smith seems to get better with each book! I love his characters and I love the performance of Robert Ian Mackenzie! The voices for each character is so good. His Scottish accent does not hurt either! This is such a good book!

Mr. McCall Smith, Please keep writing this series!

Would you listen to Love Over Scotland again? Why?

In a few years I will listen again to enjoy Robert Ian Mackenzie's narration and to love and cringe at the behavior of A. McCall Smith's well-drawn characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The character portrayals. And Bertie's mother has become one of my all time favorite characters in fiction!

If you could take any character from Love Over Scotland out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Rather than take him to dinner, I would like Angus to take ME out to dinner. He is kind-hearted, wise yet sometimes naive, intelligent, and he is genuinely interested in the other characters. He listens!

Best AMS Book

I have always thought of Alexander McCall Smith as his character, Angus Lordy, the portrait painter. In this book he paints his best, most emotional, most believable portraits. Bertie is one of the greatest characters I have ever read - a remarkable and tragic figure in a great comedy. But, if Bertie were the only portrait, that wouldn't explain the vast depth of character and feeling in this book.

Because it was published first as a serial, each chapter can be listened to independently, and there is a little punch line every 5 minutes or so to keep you going.

I think Alexander McCall Smith is a modern Charles Dickens. He is prolific. He writes serials. Most importantly, he is underrated for his time. I think people dismiss him as less than great art because his outlook is generally clean, positive and life-affirming, and he is fun to read. So what? Let the stuffies have their melancholy books. This one is great.

Some of the very best stuff

I have listened to all of Alexander McCall Smith's books and this has some of the best scenes of all of them. I thought the book started off a bit slow but after a while some of the scenes that came up are classics. Wait until you get to six-year-old Bertie alone in Paris!

A wonderful discovery

I love the Number One Ladies Detective series so much that I tried this book when it came up on sale. It was a little difficult to get into since it is not the first in the series, but I soon fell in love with all the characters. Bertie is a delight. And if I ever get another dog, I am naming it Cyril.

Excellent listening

It took me a while to get into the first book because of all the characters, but once they were established as 'real characters', I loved the stories. I then listened to the next book and am now listening to 'Love Over Scotland'. It is essential to read the books in order. They are beautifully written and the narrator is excellent.

Pure, faith-and-humor in humanity

I'm hooked on the series now.

Even the 'villains' bring a wee smile.

The narration is brilliant and the character development is wry.

Always exceptional!

These are always gentle stories. The humor, the way they are told be are comforting.

Inner thoughts in Edinburg

This novel is concerned with the search for love among inhabitants of Edinburg. It is read with a fine Scottish accent. There was no plot that I could detect. The "story" is long, rambling, and incredibly tedious. It would take great patience to listen to it to the very end; I had to stop about two thirds of the way through. I cannot imagine why the less than competent author thought to put all this stuff into print. Perhaps because his publisher paid him by the paragraph.

Not as good as the previous ones

I enjoyed the other books before this one in the series but this one made little progress. It seems to go in circles, over the same territory again and again. In particular, I’m not sure I can take much more of the Bertie storyline!