44 Scotland Street

Smith, Alexander McCall. 44 Scotland Street.  Anchor Books, 2005. 

Pages: 325  

Age Range: Adult

Genre: Mystery, realistic.  

Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland

Merits: very short chapters make the reading potentially speedy; excellent cliffhangers at the ends of chapters to make one read the next part; interestingly odd characters that make one curious; wording and language that at times make a reader laugh at absurdity or sarcasm; a setting of quirky people in an apartment building whose lives intersect randomly; a lesson about human nature with wanting what we cannot have and then learning how to see what is real as opposed to one’s fantasy of it which leads to not wanting what was nothing worthy anyway; a truly ironic ending

Unique Quality: This book was developed from episodic installments of the Edinborough newspaper which accounts for the short chapters and cliffhangers.

Detractors: Due to the episodic nature, some stories seem disjointed; story lags at times, so what should have read quickly often lost one’s interest; some storylines seem to lead somewhere but become irrelevant such an affair that is seen, but it ties into nothing, almost as though the author never found a way to tie it into the remainder of the characters; numerous characters which could make a reader have to try too hard to connect the relationships;  minor characters sometimes seem irrelevant as well, almost as if they could have their own storylines, but those never developed yet.

Main Characters: 

Pat -  lives in the apartment with Bruce as a roommate and love interest at 44 Scotland Street, early twenties, second gap year, without much direction, ends up working at Matthew’s gallery

Matthew - has little direction, father is wealthy, was given a gallery to run,knows nothing of art, interested in Pat who does not reciprocate

Domenica - lives at 44 Scotland, early sixties, has no job but appears wealthy but not haughty, drives a custard colored Mercedes which is her prized possession, befriends Pat and seems to be a mentor/advisor

Angus Lordie - knows Domenica and befriends Pat, has gold teeth as does his dog, Cyril,a portrait painter, knows much about poetry 

Bruce - lives at 44 Scotland Street and is roommate to Pat; is extremely vain, fancies that everyone woman will want him; works as a surveyor, Todd is his boss, not happy as a surveyor and may become a wine connoisseur, briefly dates Sally

Sally - an American whom Bruce dates and may want to marry until he seems to bore of her

Raeburn Todd - the boss of Bruce at the surveying firm, lectures Bruce about proper work ethic and eventually catches him in a lie about surveying a roof that he actually never looked at, thus leading to Bruce’s dismissal from the firm

Sasha Todd - Raeburn’s wife who likes living well, she does not work, she and Raeburn organize a ball for a group that has only six people in attendance, oddly becomes wealthy at the end from an inheritance

Lizzire Todd - daughter of Raeburn and Sasha, attends the ball with Bruce since Bruce was asked to accompany her, has no interest in Bruce or anyone, seems detached from all and quite angry at the upbringing she received

Bertie - five years old, mom says he is a genius so he studies saxophone and plays at an advanced level, speaks Italian, reads poetry by Auden, loves trains but doesn’t seem to have toys, gets in trouble for writing Italian words on the wall of his nursery calling his teacher a cow and setting his father’s newspaper on fire while he is reading it, is taken to a psychotherapist and sent to a new school

Irene - Bertie’s mother who sees her son as a genius that she must mold and create, disagrees with the nursery school teacher since her son should be treated differently due to his gifts and challenged more than the others, takes Bertie to see a psychotherapist, Dr. Fairbairn, whom Irene seems to want to talk with more than she wants his assessment of Bertie, seems to be molded into believing what sounds impressive by others, does not seem to see that her five year old son should be allowed to be a child

Plot: The main plot centers around Pat, who has come to work at Matthew’s gallery.  She has some background in art from college, so she believes one of his paintings, of which Matthew knows little, is a Peploe, which means it has more value.  Matthew is excited that he could possibly have success in having a worthwhile painting in his gallery since generally Matthew was given this job by his successful father, and Matthew has never been successful at anything, but since he’s wealthy, does that matter?  Matthew spends part of his day at a local coffee shop where his wealth is contrasted to some men who hang out there daily, one of whom may be an art thief.  The Peploe is a concern, so Pat is encouraged to take it home for safe keeping.  She stashes it in a closet; Bruce needs an object for a give-away at a ball he’s attending with his boss, so he discovers this painting that surely an old tenant had left behind.  Pat is shocked to see it gone, and when she discovers that Bruce took it, she is furious, but he agrees to guide her to the recipient of the painting to retrieve it.  Unfortunately, it has been donated to a thrift shop and sold immediately to someone else.  That person is tracked down too, and he generously returns it to Matthew.  At the coffee shop, Big Lou, the owner, brings in an ancestor of Peploe who declares the painting is definitely not a Peploe.  He notices the shading of an umbrella underneath the top paint coat, which indicates this painting had a different painting beneath it.  Angus Lordie offers to gently remove the top layer of the painting since he also assumes what is beneath is much more valuable.  During the extraction, it is revealed that the painting is by Vettriano and indeed is worth a great deal!  However, Angus let the paintstripper sit too long or perhaps used too much, and the Vettriano is destroyed.