A review by kmg365
The Man with the Silver Saab by Alexander McCall Smith

4.0

The cucumber is the most phallic of vegetables. Take that, Citizens of the Internet, with your eggplant emoji. AMS has spoken.

The charm of this series comes from the conversations that stray so far from the original topic that I find myself laughing. Nothing funny has been said, but the seriousness with which the characters discuss the random topics is itself hilarious. Blomquist is a treasure. I wouldn't want to work with him-- or even have coffee with him-- but I hope he never leaves the Department of Sensitive Crimes.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, but I almost didn't make it beyond the first chapter, because of an injury to Martin, Ulf's beloved dog. I stabbed the skip forward button about 10 times, until Ulf got him to the vet. The leisurely pace and meandering thoughts are amusing until an innocent pup is bleeding in the back seat, at which point everyone needs to stop dithering and get him some help. (He makes a full recovery.) While there was nothing funny about the injury, it does set in motion two other plot threads with rewarding payoffs.

There are a few events in the book that make me wonder if the series is going to be continued. I hope so. There's nothing else out there quite like it.