44 Scotland Street

Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, wrote 44 Scotland Street as an episodic book. The narrative was initially serialized in The Scotsman on January 26, 2004, and ran every weekday for six months. The book preserves the original's 100+ small chapters. It was influenced in part by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, a well-known serial narrative. It is the first book in the same-named series. As of 2021, the series contains 15 novels.

Pat, a student on her second gap year and a cause of concern for her parents, is approved as a new renter at 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh's exceedingly posh New Town, along with her different housemates and neighbors. She falls in love with her narcissistic flatmate Bruce, meets the interesting and outspoken anthropologist Domenica Macdonald and her friend Angus, and works at an art gallery for Matthew, whose affluent father has given him the gallery as a sinecure post.

Pat notices to Matthew (who knows absolutely nothing about art) while working at the gallery that one of their paintings appears to be a work by Samuel Peploe. After the gallery is broken into, Matthew urges Pat to keep the picture at their flat until they can determine whether it is a real Peploe, but Bruce donates it to a South Edinburgh Conservative Association raffle. Matthew and Pat ultimately find it and return it to the (real-life) writer Ian Rankin. The other major plotline involves five-year-old Bertie, who is dominated by his arrogant and intelligent mother Irene - he has a Grade Six on the saxophone, speaks fluent Italian, and is incredibly knowledgeable about a variety of things. After being expelled from his nursery school, Irene sends him to Dr. Fairbairn for psychotherapy, where he continuously misinterprets Bertie's simple want to be a normal five-year-old boy.

Detailed information:

Author: Alexander McCall Smith

Genre: Serial novel
Published: 2004-2005

Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/97875