The Peppermint Tea Chronicles

Written by Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose; it is summer in Scotland Street (as it always is) and for the habitués of Edinburgh's favourite street some extraordinary adventures lie in waiting.

For the impossibly vain Bruce Anderson - he of the clove-scented hair gel - it may finally be time to settle down, and surely it can only be a question of picking the lucky winner from the hordes of his admirers. The Duke of Johannesburg is keen to take his flight of fancy, a microlite seaplane, from the drawing board to the skies. Big Lou is delighted to discover that her young foster son has a surprising gift for dance but she is faced with big decisions to make on his and her futures. And with Irene now away to pursue her research in Aberdeen, her husband, Stuart, and infinitely long-suffering son, Bertie, are free to play. Stuart rekindles an old friendship over peppermint tea whilst Bertie and his friend Ranald Braveheart Macpherson get more they bargained for from their trip to the circus. And that s just the start ...

Take a few minutes to relax with a cup of tea of your favourite tea and savour the affairs of the world in microcosm, teeming with life's loves and challenges. Little dramas writ large by the master chronicler of modern life and manners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980031925

Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the award-winning series The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and he now devotes his time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie series. He is the author of over eighty books on a wide array of subjects, and his work has been translated into forty-six languages. Before becoming a full-time writer he was for many years Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh.

Reviews for The Peppermint Tea Chronicles

[Gordon Lamont · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovable characters continue to entertain us! They all seem very confused about God! "It"! Our Scottish ancestors like Knox, and the Covenanters I think, would be very sad that their courage and determination has become what the characters ignorance of Christianity is!

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 13th novel in McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series informs us that the hateful Irene has decamped to Aberdeen to pursue her PhD and the result is much happiness in the Pollock household. Bertie and his friend Ranald Braveheart McPherson sneak off for a day at the circus & end up getting a dog that they say they will share between them. Stuart is finally finding a relationship with someone who respects him & Grandmother Nicola is happily managing the household and making sure that she can undo the damage Irene has done over the years.Pat almost falls for Bruce again, but is brought back to her senses by Matthew ho also manages to bring Pat together with someone she can really care for (and vice versa). Matthew also helps Big Lou find a way to send her young ward to ballet school while simultaneously providing Elspeth with s chance to do something fulfilling for herself.As usually, I find myself skipping over the way too long ruminations of Angus and his wife, Dominica. (I am starting to actively dislike her.) But putting up with Dominica is a small price to pay when everyone else in this series is so charming.

[kwharton-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The tone is quite pompous (probably not helped by the narrator of the audio book) and I do wonder if everyone in Edinburgh, even in Scotland Street, is middle class, white, and straight. All the women seemed to be mean, weak, and/or seemingly in need of rescuing. A bit disappointing when the author is well known for the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series about strong black women! I know that some of the men are also weak or in need of rescuing, but this book had (as Goodreads reviewer Liza has said) "a whiff of misogyny".

[clara53_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"44 Scotland Street" is my favorite series by A.McCall Smith, and I loved this new installment.  The characters are always so colorful, their ambitions and feelings are so natural and real, and there is a tendency to ruminate - which always leaves a lot of food for thought for the reader. Also, I loved it that the awful Irene character was more or less out of the picture in this one. Happy for Bertie! And  some very positive developments otherwise as well - not sudden, but through the author's impeccable ability to weave a good story with all its ups and downs.

[linda.a. · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s always such a joy to read a new 44 Scotland Street story, not only to reacquaint myself with such a vibrant cast of characters, but also to enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s eminently literate writing style, confident in the knowledge that my reading pleasure won’t be interrupted by any irritations about poor syntax and punctuation! I always expect to be chuckling gently throughout, amused by his kindly humour and acute observations of people and their behaviour. However, I also know that his gentle philosophising will frequently make me stop and think, will remind me that there is always more than one way of looking at life, and that we all need to be more tolerant of other people and other viewpoints. I have heard him speak on many occasions and it’s clear that he is a gentle, kindly man who genuinely likes people – foibles and all! How I wish that his books could be made available on prescription, as an antidote to the current divisiveness and toxicity which is permeating society at the moment.In many ways this 13th instalment of the series was one of the best because, with controlling Irene away in Aberdeen doing her PhD, life has become so much more relaxing and enjoyable for her seven-year-old son Bertie and his father, Stuart – no less eventful maybe, but most decidedly better, despite the fact that the odious Olive continues to make Bertie’s life miserable at school! All of the other familiar characters continue to face and cope with the various ups and downs of life but, by the end of the story, life is looking positive for each of them … will this satisfactory state of affairs continue? I hope we won’t have to wait too long to find out, and maybe in the next instalment the author could find a way to make the hateful Olive disappear from Bertie’s life!