1. This is the thirteenth Isabel Dalhousie novel. What keeps you interested in the series?

2. If you read other books by Alexander McCall Smith, what parallels can you draw between recurring characters in the different series?

3. Which character in the Isabel Dalhousie is your favorite and why? Who has changed the most? Who would you like to read more about? Who is funny, or serious, or unique?

4. Isabel and Jamie go to an upscale restaurant for dinner. After Isabel sees a local politician get admonished by another patron, she approaches him to speak her mind. What does Isabel say, and do you agree with her actions? Would you behave similarly? Why or why not?

5. Isabel’s reaction at the restaurant is noticed by a man named Iain Melrose, who later finds her in Cat’s delicatessen and introduces himself. He knows Isabel by reputation, and asks to meet with her privately. When she obliges, he asks her to become with executor of his will. What do you think of this situation?

6. Given that Iain is a dying man, should she grant this request? Does she owe him that or is it an imposition?

7. Have you ever been asked to be an executor? What was the experience like? Were the person’s wishes clear, or were you left to make decisions?

8. Would you become an executor for someone you didn’t know, with heirs you didn’t know?

9. How would you feel as an heir whose fortunes are decided by a stranger?

10. Iain Melrose is not Isabel’s only concern. Her strained relationship with her niece, Cat, is complicated by Cat’s fiancé, Leo. How does Isabel feel about Leo?

11. Imagine you were Cat? What would you think of Isabel’s reaction to Leo?

12. If money were not an issue, do you think Leo would marry Cat?

13. Cat asks for an expensive car, with the goal of getting a cheaper car Leo wants. Do you think this is smart negotiating, or a duplicity to the trust?

14. How do Isabel’s own feelings about inheriting money intertwine with the Melrose trust and the trust left to her and Cat? Is it harder to be fair when she doesn’t know the heirs, or when Isabel’s own inheritance is involved?

15. When Leo and Cat announce their engagement, Leo accidentally wounds Eddie. While no one thinks Leo actually aimed at Eddie, Eddie blames him anyway for not being careful. Does such negligence warrant anger? Would the situation be different if Eddie like Leo?

16. It’s a happy moment for Leo, and he was simply being exuberant. Leo doesn’t apologize to Eddie directly but through Cat. If Eddie and Leo were friends and it truly was an accident, would it be important for Leo apologize directly? How do you feel about the situation?

17. Cat’s relationship with Leo takes her away from the deli, which she had cared deeply about. If she sells it, and sails with Leo on a boat, instead, do you think she will be happy? Will there be regrets?

18. Isabel solves the situation by having the trust buy the boat, invest is the deli, promote Eddie, and give a job to a woman who needs it. While this seems a great solution, what happens if Cat comes back? Do you think Isabel is capable of cutting her niece’s access to money? How do you think Cat’s will continue on in the series?

19. Jamie is more involved in Isabel’s affairs in this novel. Not only does he approach Cat about Leo and the trust, but he goes with her to discuss her wariness of Hilary Reay. Why is important to Isabel that Jamie support her in these actions? How is it important to the story?

20. The single loose end in the story was Isabel’s distrust of Melrose heir Hilary Reay. When Hilary tells her side of the situation, Isabel feels embarrassed by her assumptions. Why do you think this is important to the story? What other assumptions have been made that were (or may be revealed as) inaccurate?

21. In the end, Isabel knows that helping others is her calling, even if sometimes she stumbles. Have you instances in your life where you made incorrect assumptions? How did you deal with them and what did you learn? As long as help is given with good intentions, isn’t it more important than not giving anything at all?

22. What would you like to see next for Isabel, and the other characters in her series?