LOVE OVER SCOTLAND

A writer as charming as Alexander McCall Smith deserves a reader just as charming, and in Robert Ian Mackenzie he has a match. You'll have your own favorites among his voices; mine is his Irene, the smugly insufferable mother of the child prodigy Bertie. In this episode Irene pushes the unwilling Bertie to try out for a spot in the Edinburgh Teenage Orchestra in spite of his being only 6. Bertie is horrified when his audition succeeds, but things look up when Irene learns that no parents will be allowed to accompany the group on their trip to Paris. There can be a sameness in Mackenzie's cadences from character to character, but otherwise it's hard to fault this delightful update on the denizens of 44 Scotland Street. B.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]