As you would expect from the title of the book it’s the six year old character Bertie who is concentrated on in this one. The poor wee soul is still very much under the thumb of his mother, the dreadful Irene, although Stuart, Bertie’s father, is pushed around by Irene even more than Bertie is. You just long for Stuart to ‘man up’. Thankfully they get a wee respite from her overbearing bossiness in this book, bliss for both of them!

At one point some of the Scotland Street residents jet off to Italy, including Angus Lordie and his dog Cyril. Some time ago I was asked which fictional dog was my favourite and I couldn’t think of any dogs at all except Nana in Peter Pan, but now I think that Cyril would be my choice as best fictional dog. He’s a great character and what with his ability to wink and being in possession of a gold tooth, he’s what I would call a gallus dog. I’m sure he must have been born in Glasgow, rather than Edinburgh!

As you would expect from this series of books, it’s a quick and enjoyable read, possibly knowing Edinburgh is an advantage. McCall Smith enjoys educating non Scots in Scots words and early on in the book he comes up with: bidey-in, trauchle and various others – and I’m all for spreading the words.

Mind you, I’m beginning to think that he gets a discount at Valvona and Crolla which is a delicatessen/restaurant in Edinburgh. He certainly should get something because he never misses a chance to give them a name check!

In the past I’ve read one of McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie books which was okay-ish but I wouldn’t rush to read another one, but when I was at the library I saw one of the Corduroy Mansion books. Has anybody read any of these ones, if so, what do you think of them?