A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith *****

A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith is #11 Isabel Dalhousie novel. She is still married to Jamie. Charlie is four. Magnus is an infant. This is a cozy, cozy mystery. One mystery comes from her friend Bea, matchmaker, who fears she's set up a dinner guest with a man who preys on rich women. The other mystery from Eddie who works at her cousin Cat's deli. He is concerned that Cat has taken a girlfriend.

Isabel Dalhousie owns/edits a journal on applied ethics, and spends most of her time considering philosophical questions.

For instance, she ponders "whether religion is compatible with honesty."

"Because they ask you to believe things that are patently impossible. And that's the same as asking people to believe in lies, to say that lies don't matter."

Other advice:

"It's important to pay one's bills immediately. ... If one's going to start a passionate affair with a window cleaner, pay him first."

"The Ethics of Fridge Magnets"

"Should you display a fridge magnet that perpetuates inequality, or intolerance, of selfishness... People did, of course."

"Settled"

"Isabel liked that expression. She knew that lawyers used it a technical sense... but it seemed to her that it was a word that could be used in many other contexts...with one's friends...with a neighbor after arguing...the weather."

If you enjoy a world where everyone is nice, and nothing bad ever happens, this is the author for you. Also, consider the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.