>The prolific Scottish medical lawyer and author, Alexander McCall-Smith, keeps me regularly supplied with reading .  I can hardly keep up with his four different series along with all the other new novels calling to me as a librarian.  He has written over 60 books including academic titles and children’s books.
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is the latest in his Isabel Dalhousie series. Edinburgh is the setting for this contemplative philosopher.  This time Isabel is asked to help find parents of a woman who was adopted as a child.  The complications involved in the discovery of the possible father make us evaluate when secrets are alright to keep.  Should the man who wants to claim paternity be told that he probably isn’t the father, and should the one who would not be happy to find out about his child be forced to face his unknown history?
There are other story vignettes that keep us thinking about subtle moral dilemmas such as Isabel’s mushroom poisoning which involves the delicatessen Isabel’s niece, Cat owns, a paper submitted to Isabel’s philosophical publication that was written under an assumed name and the love story’s continuation between Isabel and her Jamie.