Recommendations based on The Careful Use of Complimentsby Alexander McCall Smith

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Right Attitude to Rain

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur detective, navigates through the complexities of life and love in Edinburgh.

    The delectable new installment in the bestselling and already beloved adventures of Isabel Dalhousie and her no-nonsense housekeeper, Grace. When friends from Dallas arrive in Edinburgh and introduce ... (Goodreads)

  2. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur sleuth, navigates the complexities of love and loss while solving a mystery involving a rare manuscript.

    ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 2 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. Whether ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Sunday Philosophy Club

    by Alexander McCall Smith
    Detective story featuring an amateur sleuth, exploring the mysteries of life and death.

    With The Sunday Philosophy Club , Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the best-selling and beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, begins a wonderful new series starring the irrepressibly ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Private Patient

    by P.D. James
    A gripping crime-mystery of murder and secrets, set in a rural English village.

    Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate a murder at a private nursing home for rich patients being treated by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. A welcome ... (Goodreads)

  5. Coming Home

    by Rosamunde Pilcher
    A journey of self-discovery and rediscovering love and family.

    The story focuses on Judith Dunbar, who is enrolled in St. Ursula's, an English boarding school, when her parents and younger sister move to colonial Singapore . She is introduced to a world of ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Gaudy Night

    by Dorothy L. Sayers
    Harriet Vane returns to her alma mater to solve a mystery, while grappling with her feelings for Lord Peter Wimsey.

    Harriet Vane returns with trepidation to her, alma mater, , Shrewsbury College, Oxford to attend the Gaudy dinner. Expecting hostility because of her notoriety (she had stood trial for murder in an ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Maisie Dobbs

    by Jacqueline Winspear
    Detective story set in post-WWI London, investigating a mysterious disappearance.

    Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady ... (Goodreads)

  8. Blackberry Wine

    by Joanne Harris
    An exploration of the power of memory and imagination, as a man seeks to recreate his childhood.

    Writer Jay Mackintosh is suffering from writer's block. Having reached his artistic zenith with the award-winning 'Jackapple Joe', a novel published 10 years ago, he has failed to duplicate his ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Messenger of Truth

    by Jacqueline Winspear
    An investigator is hired to solve a mysterious murder, uncovering a web of secrets and lies.

    Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist—and World War I veteran—in the fourth entry in the bestselling series London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

    by Fannie Flagg
    A Southern small-town woman's life is changed by mysterious events that open her eyes to a larger world.

    Elner Shimfissle, an octogenarian who doesn't know her own age since her sister Ida buried the family Bible to conceal hers, is known and liked by a large circle of friends and admirers. One morning ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Death in a Strange Country

    by Donna Leon
    Commissario Brunetti investigates the murder of a young American soldier in Venice, uncovering corruption and secrets in the process.

    Early one morning Brunetti is confronted with the body of a young American serviceman fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. All clues point to a mugging, but robbery seems too convenient a motive. ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Jane Austen Book Club

    by Karen Joy Fowler
    Five women and one man form a book club to discuss Jane Austen's novels, but end up discussing their own lives and relationships.

    The Extraordinary, New York Times, Bestseller In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, ... (Goodreads)

  13. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

    by Alan Bradley
    An orphaned girl's adventure of solving a decades-old murder at the mysterious Miss Bodycote's Female Academy.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER,Flavia de Luce—“part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket’s, A Series of Unfortunate Events,” (,The New York Times Book Review,)—takes her remarkable ... (Goodreads)

  14. Speaking from Among the Bones

    by Alan Bradley
    A young detective investigates the mystery of a decades-old murder in a small English village.

    From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as “one of the most remarkable creations in recent ... (Goodreads)

  15. Longbourn

    by Jo Baker
    A retelling of "Pride and Prejudice" from the perspective of the servants at Longbourn.

    Sarah is a young woman of marrying age. Orphaned, she came to work for the Bennet family with whom she still resides along with the other servants including the married Mr and Mrs Hill and the much ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

    by Beth Hoffman
    A young girl's journey of self-discovery, gaining strength and resilience in the face of adversity.

    Twelve-year-old CeeCee is in trouble. For years she’s been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille— the crown-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town. Though it’s 1967 and ... (Goodreads)

  17. Standing in the Rainbow

    by Fannie Flagg
    A comedic story of a small town in Alabama and its eccentric inhabitants, highlighting the beauty of human relationships.

    Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Monkey Wrench Gang

    by Edward Abbey
    A comedic adventure of environmental activism, fighting against corporate pollution.

    The book's four main characters are ecologically minded misfits—"Seldom Seen" Smith, a Jack Mormon river guide; Doc Sarvis, an odd but wealthy and wise surgeon; Bonnie Abbzug, his young Jewish ... (Wikipedia)

  19. A Suitable Boy

    by Vikram Seth
    Epic story of a young woman's search for love and her family's struggle for acceptance in 1950s India.

    In 1951, 19-year-old Lata Mehra attends the wedding of her older sister, Savita, to Pran Kapoor, a university lecturer. Lata’s mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, says that it is time for Lata to be married as ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Faithful Place

    by Tana French
    A woman's search for the truth behind her childhood sweetheart's disappearance.

    When 19-year-old Frank Mackey was left waiting outside of an abandoned house one fateful night, he believed that his lover backed out on their plans of elopement. After finding a note inside the ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Likeness

    by Tana French
    A murder investigation reveals secrets of a young woman's past, threatening her present.

    The story follows the efforts of detective Cassie Maddox to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of Lexie Madison, a young woman who is her doppelgänger . , The dead woman not only ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

    by Alan Bradley
    A young girl's detective journey to solve a murder mystery in a picturesque English village.

    As the novel opens, Flavia Sabina de Luce schemes revenge against her two older sisters, Ophelia (17) and Daphne (13), who have locked her inside a closet in Buckshaw, the family's country manor home ... (Wikipedia)

  23. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

    by Fredrik Backman
    An imaginative quest to uncover the truth behind a beloved grandmother's mysterious stories.

    The story takes place in Sweden and follows Elsa, a 7-year-old who knows she is different from other children her age. Elsa has a habit of correcting others' grammar, she is smart for her age, and is ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Sing, Unburied, Sing

    by Jesmyn Ward
    A family's journey through the Mississippi Delta, confronting a traumatic past.

    It is Jojo's thirteenth birthday. To step into his new role as a man, Jojo tries to bravely help his grandfather, Pop, kill a goat. Jojo ends up throwing up at the sight although Pop is sympathetic. ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Home Safe

    by Elizabeth Berg
    A widow struggles to come to terms with her husband's death while navigating the complexities of family relationships and personal identity.

    In this new novel, beloved bestselling author Elizabeth Berg weaves a beautifully written and richly resonant story of a mother and daughter in emotional transit. Helen Ames–recently widowed, coping ... (Goodreads)

  26. Possession

    by A.S. Byatt
    Two modern academics uncover a hidden romance between two Victorian poets.

    Obscure scholar Roland Michell, researching in the London Library , discovers handwritten drafts of a letter by the eminent Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, which lead him to suspect that the ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

    by Jamie Ford
    A touching story of the intersection of love, family, and culture during World War II.

    Henry Lee, the son of Chinese parents in Seattle , Washington, is the only Asian child at his elementary school. His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Shipping News

    by Annie Proulx
    A man's attempt to rebuild his life in a small Newfoundland town, discovering compassion and joy.

    The story centers around Quoyle, a newspaper reporter from upstate New York , whose father had emigrated from Newfoundland . Shortly after his parents' joint suicide, Quoyle's unfaithful and abusive ... (Wikipedia)

  29. The Guy Not Taken

    by Jennifer Weiner
    A collection of short stories exploring the complexities of relationships, love, and self-discovery.

    Jennifer Weiner's talent shines like never before in this collection of short stories, following the tender, often hilarious, progress of love and relationships over the course of a lifetime. We meet ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. The Perfect Christmas

    by Debbie Macomber
    A heartwarming story of love, family, and the magic of Christmas. Follow a young couple as they navigate the ups and downs of the holiday season.

    What would make, your, Christmas perfect?, For Cassie Beaumont, it's meeting her perfect match. Cassie, at thirty-three, wants a husband and kids, and so far nothing's worked. Not blind dates, not ... (Barnes & Noble)