Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations

By: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by: various

Alexander McCall Smith, the New York Times best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and the recipient of two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations, delivers an intriguing collection of stories about dating. The emotions in these tales run from the thrill of finding happiness to the humiliation and loneliness of rejection.©2003 Alexander MacCall Smith (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"Captivating....Smith's nine stories, with their light humor and touching moments, should inspire smiles and sighs in tenderhearted readers everywhere." (Publishers Weekly)

Interesting tales exploring corners of humanity

Like other stories from Alexander McCall Smith, humanity and morality are the central theme. Unlike his other stories, they don't always have happy endings. Sometimes the story just turns out so unbelievable and sad. The way they're written, they aren't unbelievable in the far-fetched sense, but unbelievable in the sense that, reality is unbelievable. Those are the stories that people hear from gossips or local news and each has their own opinions about. Controversial human behavior and strange happenings.

Overall, it's an interesting collection of nice imaginative stories that might be too much at the length of a full book, but as short stories, they are tolerable. The Department of Sensitive Crimes in the Detective Varg series from the author is another one with short cases exploring the corners of humanity that are thought-provoking.

Not expected

Those looking for the more lighthearted writing of McCall Smith (Mma Ramotswe series, et al) might be surprised by the relatively dark tone of these short stories. Note, they're also frankly sexual in tone, usually dealing with failures and unhappiness, with a few exceptions.