Alexander McCall Smith's many fans will welcome the second installment in the best-selling 44 Scotland Street series. Back are all our favourite denizens of a converted Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh. Bertie, the immensely talented six-year-old, is now enrolled in kindergarten, and much to his dismay, has been clad in pink overall for his first day of class. Bruce has lost his job as a surveyor and, between admiring glances in the mirror, is contemplating becoming a wine merchant. Pat is embarking on a new life at Edinburgh University and perhaps on a new relationship, courtesy of Domenica, her witty and worldly-wise neighbour. In any event, he couldn't be less suitable than her ill-fated flirtation with Bruce. Full of McCall Smith's gentle humour and sympathy for his characters, Espresso Tales is also an affectionate portrait of a city and its people who, in the author's own worlds, "make Edinburgh one of the most vibrant and interesting places in the world."