Isabel Dalhousie thinks often of friends, sometimes of lovers, and on occasion of chocolate. As an Edinburgh philosopher she is certain of where she stands. She can review a book called In Praise of Sin with panache and conviction, but real life is . . . well, perhaps a bit more challenging - particularly when it comes to her feelings for Jamie, a younger man who should have married her niece, Cat. Jamie's handsomeness leaves Isabel feeling distinctly uneasy, and ethically disturbed. 'I am a philosopher', she thinks, 'but I am also a woman'. And more disturbance is in store. When Cat takes a break in Italy, Isabel agrees to run her delicatessen. One of the customers, she discovers, has recently had a heart transplant and is now being plagued by memories that cannot be rationally explained and which he feels do not belong to him. Isabel is intrigued. So intrigued that she finds herself rushing headlong into a dangerous investigation. But she still has time to think about the things that possess her - things like love and friendship, and, of course, temptation. The last of these comes in many forms - chocolate, for example, or seductive Italians . . .
What I thought: My reading friend and fellow Splinter, Jan Drew, passed this book to me a while ago. It had somehow got buried in one of my baskets of books which are waiting in the wings. Oh dear, I thought, I'd better read this and return it to her. I have been a great fan of the 44 Scotland Street novels because I love Bertie and have followed his development and his escapades, the hapless put-upon son of an overbearing mother who insists that he should have a pink bedroom, and take yoga lessons. The opening chapters of Friends etc etc, the second novel in The Sunday Philosophy Club series seemed pretty inconsequential and then the protagonist Isabel Dalhousie meets Ian, a recent heart transplantee and the plot gets interesting...…………
There is a good Wikipedia entry about the novel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends,_Lovers,_Chocolate
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