The Careful Use of Compliments: Book 4

Isabel Dalhousie is back-and with a new little Dalhousie-in the fourth installment of this enchanting, already beloved, bestselling series. In addition to being the snoopingest and most sympathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel Dalhousie is now also a mother. Her newborn son presents her with the myriad mysteries of a new life (and doting father Jamie presents her with the idea of another new life-as his wife), but that doesn't in any way diminish her curiosity about other mysteries. And when she attends an art auction, Isabel finds an irresistible puzzle at hand: a painting attributed to a now-deceased artist features a person whom the artist could have encountered only after he was said to have died. Is the painting a forgery? Is the artist actually alive? Either possibility is sufficient fodder for Isabel's inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation . . . and soon finds herself diverging from her customary philosophical paths, onto a path that leads her into a world and a way of life that she could never have imagined.