Happy to be away from her large family for a while, Polly O'Keefe is spending the autumn with her maternal grandparents, Dr. Kate Murry and Dr. Alex Murry, getting a better education from them in science than she would have received at home. Soon, however, surprising things start to happen, including the unexpected arrival of Zachary Gray, a charming but troubled college student whom Polly met in Greece and dated on Cyprus the year before (in A House Like a Lotus).
Brian Leonard, a Monty Python of secret agents, meets James Churchill, a young officer, at an English army base where preparations are under way for Operation Apollo. To complicate matters, Churchill has gone round-the-bend for a parole from the mental ward. Thrown amongst these loose cannons is a widowed beauty who practices "conspicuous polyandry," an unfocused psychiatrist, an unbelieving chaplain, and a charming alcoholic. "Amis delights in combining espionage, violence, love and religious skepticism. Such disparate elements, like dishpans and fire rings, challenge his juggler's dexterity. Who wins? The reader!"
While Smith's seventh novel featuring Scottish philosopher and woman of means Isabel Dalhousie (after The Lost Art of Gratitude) doesn't break new ground, the author's many fans will be more than satisfied to follow the small events of Isabel's life, in particular her struggle to come to terms with her own imperfections. Much to Isabel's dismay, Prue, a cellist with a terminal illness who's a professional colleague of her bassoonist fiancé, Jamie, has been making ever greater demands on the good-natured Jamie.
Enjoying his new fiancee and a lull in his Scottish village's crime rate, police sergeant Hamish Macbeth is upset when his future bride urges him to find a better job, and rivalry over a local heartthrob results in murder.
In Keys to the Kingdom, Alison A. Armstrong takes you on a journey of discovery into the workings of men, women, and relationships. Much of the information acquired during Alison’s fifteen-year study of men is brought to life by the novel’s charming and genuine characters. This heartfelt story communicates the type of wisdom taught in the Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women® workshops.
