Corduroy Mansions

Simon Prebble's pacing and vitality shore up this first entry in a new series. McCall Smith's novel about the residents of a respectable London apartment complex and their extended circles of associates has a few too many beans in the pot. Prebble's expertise with accents helps with the many characters, including the voices of an obnoxious member of Parliament and the coarse son of a wine merchant. The tiresome story of the MP's hapless brother-in-law is redeemed by Prebble's delivery of a funny last-minute drunken scene--but just barely. McCall Smith isn't subtle about his most fanciful creation, an extraordinary dog, who gives Prebble more to work with. But, overall, precious characters and unresolved stories are a lot to overcome. B.V.M. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

May 24, 2010
Set in present-day London, Smith's charming first in a new series offers a variation on his 44 Scotland Street books, centering on the eccentric occupants of Corduroy Mansions and their offbeat doings. William French, a wine merchant, hopes to force his son, Eddie, who refuses to take his hints about sharing a flat with other 20-somethings, to leave the nest by getting a dog whose presence in their apartment he expects will drive Eddie out. William's neighbors include Dee, who works at a vitamin shop and believes a coworker needs to purge his system of excess sodium, and her roommate, Jenny, who works for an odious MP, Oedipus Snark, who treats Jenny like dirt. Smith paints with broader strokes than in his subtle and often moving No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and no one character is especially memorable, but the wry humor he elicits from the collisions of lives and their repercussions will bring smiles to the faces of many readers.