Shades of John le Carre! Freddie de la Hay, the intrepid Pimlico terrier (!) has been volunteered for service with Britain's MI6 in Alexander McCall Smith's second installment of the Corduroy Mansions books The Dog Who Came In From The Cold (#89). William French, his owner (or master, or companion or whatever the current politically correct term is!) is surprised at just how close an eye British intelligence has been keeping on both him and Freddie for this particular assignment. When things aren't looking too good for Freddie, it's William to the rescue. Woven throughout the tale of derring do are the threads of the lives of the other occupants of Corduroy Mansions: how flatmates discover new truths about themselves and their relationships, how one makes a tidy sum of money, and how the mother of Oedipus Snark, MP (just love that name!) saves her brother from losing his home and his fortune to a pair of tricksters in a very satisfying way.
I always think of corduroy as being a warm and cozy fabric, and that makes the name perfect for this series about the flats in this converted London mansion and the people (and animal!) who live there; the stories are humorous but told with sympathy for the foibles of the characters. What a great storyteller Mr. McCall Smith is! Don't miss this series. It's perfect summer reading.
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