Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

Corduroy Mansions

By Alexander McCall Smith

I was looking for a nice relaxing book on CD to listen to on my ride to and from work this past week when I saw an Alexander McCall Smith that had been recently returned to the library.  I’ve really only followed his Isabel Dalhousie series set in London but this looked promising, with the picture of a small dog on the front, Corduroy Mansions.

It has been a little different than I expected.  There is a fairly large cast of characters, unlike the Isabel Dalhousie series.  It’s quite civilized and pleasant then something startling happens, sometimes even something rather ugly.

It all centers around an apartment building called Corduroy Mansions.  The book is set up in a series of 100 short scenes moving from the people in the apartments out to all those they are involved with. 

There are four flats in Corduroy Mansions.  The top floor is where William and his son Eddie live, the girls are on the first floor and the ground floor is occupied by Mr. Wickramsinghe.

Here is a rundown of the tenants and their major relationships in the story -

William – Wine merchant who is trying to get his 24 year old son Eddie to move out.

Eddie – William’s son, rather ungrateful, he steals Freddie de la Hay to put in a dog fight.
Marcia – Caterer and friend of William but she would like to be more. 
Freddie de la Hay – Vegetarian Pimlico Terrier that William is “sharing.”. 

Dee – First floor neighbor, works in a vitamin shop.

Martin – works with Dee at the vitamin shop.

Jenny – First floor neighbor, Personal Assistant to the odious MP, Oedipus Snark.

Oedipus Snark – Odious MP.
Berthea Snark – Oedipus Snark’s mother and a psychologist, who is writing an unauthorized biography about her son.
Terence Moongrove – Berthea’s new age hippy brother
Barbara Ragg – Literary agent and Oedipus Snark’s girlfriend.  She breaks up with him then immediately picks up a young man in the car park.
Hugh Macpherson – young man Barbara picks up.
Rupert Porter – partner at literary agency with Barbara – annoyed that his father sold Barbara’s father a flat at market value that he wanted.

Caroline – First floor neighbor, doing a masters course at Sotheby’s in Fine Art.

James – Caroline’s friend in classes at Sotheby’s, who may or may not be gay.
Tim Something – photographer who once took Caroline’s photograph for a magazine.

Jo – First floor neighbor, Australian ex-patriate, first girl in the flat at Corduroy Mansions.

Mr. Wickramsinghe – Ground floor neighbor, an accountant who only shows up a few times, but he feels like a major character.  Hopefully he will be back in future books.

Though the book is character driven there is a thread of plot that ties things together very neatly with some intelligent and interesting observations.  I highly recommend it and look forward to the next one.