The series have a structural problem however. This is because all four of the books began life in a daily serial in Edinburgh’s The Scotsman. (The first book ran for 110 episodes over 22 weeks.) McCall Smith himself had suggested the format, and to his surprise the newspaper took it up. Initially he was well ahead of his deadlines; towards the end of the first book he had only three days in hand.

McCall Smith admits that the main difficulty of serial writing is being unable to go back and “fix” anything. This may be why, early in the first book, an anonymous man survives a fall off a balcony after catching his wife with her lover, and then vanishes from the story, along with the person who observes him. It may be why, late in the same book, three of the characters go exploring a tunnel under Scotland St, come across the AGM of the Edinburgh Establishment in a room above their heads - and never mention it again.

Most disturbing, though, for those who read that first book, is the way the five-year old boy, Bertie, who is such an important and delightful character (in spite of his appalling mother), has his story truncated just when we have hope things will come out well for him.

Warming Up

The first book takes a few chapters to warm up, but once it’s running, the rich mix of characters and stories - and hilarity, sometimes of the laugh-out-loud kind - give the thing its own momentum. Pat, (initially) the main character, is a slightly bland young woman, trying to decide how to deal with her narcissistic flatmate, Bruce. She works for Matthew, the gallery owner, who fancies her but doesn’t think he has a chance. Downstairs in number 44 is the astute saxophone-playing and Italian-speaking Bertie (yes, he’s only five), and his ambitious mother; she’s keen on a psychiatrist whom Bertie decides must be mad because he asks such daft questions.

Across the road from the gallery is the coffee-shop owner who’s reading her way systematically through an entire stock of secondhand books inherited from the previous proprietor. Bruce has a boss who insists that the South Edinburgh Conservative Association Ball must go ahead even though only six people attend. Pat meets an artist and his dog, Cyril; both of them have some gold teeth, while Cyril also drinks beer and winks at ladies. And then there’s the incident of the lack of underpants, and a painting that might or might not be a Peploe and which never seems to be where it’s supposed to be.

The (First) Sequel

The second title in the series is Espresso Tales. Itwas to have been McCall Smith’s final go at doing a daily chapter centred round the lives of the people at 44 Scotland St. However, at the party celebrating the end of the second series, someone persuaded him to carry on for another term. Which is just as well for his readers.

This second book, like its predecessor, has a number of hilarious situations, and some rather plodding ones, such as the several chapters of Ramsey Dunbarton’s biography. (That’s not to say the latter isn’t funny; there’s just a bit too much of it.) Still, the hilarious parts of the book far outweigh the others. And some of the more obnoxious characters, such as Dr Fairbairn, the psychiatrist, and Bruce, the narcissist, get their comeuppance. (Even if Bruce does bounce straight back!)

It’s good to see little Bertie, the six-year old wonder-kid, rescued from the clutches of his over-ambitious mother - at least for a while. It won’t spoil anything to tell you that it’s his own mild-mannered father who takes Bertie under his wing and gives him some of the adventures he’s long desired - and some he hasn’t. Bertie ranks as one of the most delightful of McCall Smith’s characters, a little person in whom hope springs eternal.

And Another Sequel

The third in the series, Love Over Scotland, is perhaps the best of the three. (At least it was until number four came thundering up behind.)

McCall Smith continues to thoroughly enjoy his characters, and there’s a sense of liberation in this volume that wasn’t quite so apparent in the others, liberation in the sense of wild humour, and hilariously improbable situations.

The best character remains little six-year-old Bertie, who is still engaged in his mild but ongoing battle with his ambitious mother: he just wants to be an ordinary six-year-old. Her ambitions so far have seen him learn the saxophone, learn Italian, go to a psychiatrist and attend yoga classes. And here she convinces herself that he can join the Edinburgh Teenage Orchestra! This gives Bertie a taste of freedom: by accident he’s left in Paris on his own for a couple of days.

Anthropologist Domenica, who has played a fairly minor role in the previous two books, here flies off to the Straits of Malacca to study modern-day pirates, and her part of the book, taking us away from Edinburgh for a time, gives things a real breath of fresh air.

Back in Edinburgh, however, Pat finally moves from 44 Scotland Street and develops a crush on fellow art student Wolf, whose strange ways hint at a darker subplot that involves Pat’s flatmate. Wolf’s involvement is fairly short-lived - which is just as well for Pat. She later moves in with gallery owner Matthew, who’s also her boss. He’s struggling with both a sudden (enormous) fortune and a yearning for Pat, one that’s barely reciprocated. After Wolf, Matthew still seems rather colourless.

And there’s a twist concerning Bertie’s mother and the unpleasant psychiatrist, Dr Fairburn.

And Now to Number Four

If McCall Smith hadn’t discovered the wonderful character of Bertie in the first of the 44 Scotland St series - along with his indomitable mother - it’s likely the books wouldn’t have taken off the way they have. The fourth in the series therefore honours its best character in its title: The World According to Bertie.

Bertie is by no means the strongest character in the stories, but he’s plainly the one that McCall Smith has a real heart for, and even though he has no bigger part to play than anyone else in the fourth book, his every appearance makes the reader sit back and say: Ah, now the story will really be interesting.

Bertie, along with two of the other children in Miss Harmony’s school, the improbably-named Tofu, and Olive, are characters that really click in a way some of adult characters don’t. Bertie (almost) cannot tell a lie, which has consequences for the adults; Tofu tells almost nothing but lies, spinning them like a spider with a web, and Olive is a little girl almost as dominating as Bertie’s mother. And she gets her comeuppance in this book.

Between books three and four, Bertie has acquired a little brother who, like Tofu, has an improbable name: Ulysses. Ulysses doesn’t do much, in line with most babies, but he has a little mystery hanging over his head. Perhaps he isn’t really the son of his father…? Bertie’s suggestions in this regard cause not a little confusion.

The only other character of sustained interest is Bruce, who has been in London but finds the draw of Edinburgh too much to resist. (Meaning he didn’t do as well in London as he expected.) Even though he’s narcissistic in the extreme, and uses people like others use paper tissues, he’s interesting. You’re always waiting to see whether he’ll fall flat or survive. He manages to do both simultaneously in this book.

Pat and Matthew float along trying to be the young lovers and not succeeding; the artist loses his dog to the police (he had it stolen in the previous episode); other characters wander in and out without too much passion expended and there are the usual crises over very small aspects of daily lives. But it’s Bertie we continually cheer on, it’s Bertie who (apparently) gets all the fan mail, and it’s Bertie who, his story still unresolved even in this fourth book, will no doubt bring another sequel to pass.

In Summary

The Scotland St books are rather more uneven than those in the Botswana series, but it seems churlish to carp about this when they’re so full of good humour, quirky characters and the zest of life. McCall Smith plainly enjoys these people, and conveys that enjoyment to his readers.

Real Edinburgh events and places people appear in all four books in this series. It’s an achievement on McCall Smith’s part that these realities fit as well into his imaginary world as the imaginary world fits into the real Edinburgh.