The Careful Use of Compliments — Alexander McCall Smith

In the latest beguiling installment of this beloved series, Isabel Dalhousie -- the nosiest and most sympathetic philosopher you are likely to meet -- returns to investigate an irresistible puzzle in the art world.

Isabel Dalhousie now has a son, Charlie, whose doting father has an idea to pose to Isabel: marriage. But life still has its concerns, and the ambitious Professor Dove has staged something of a coup d'etat and seized Isabel's position as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. However, nothing it seems can diminish Isabel's innate curiosity. And when she recognizes that two paintings attributed to a deceased artist have simultaneously appeared on the market, she can't help but think that they're forgeries. So Isabel begins an investigation and soon finds herself diverted from her musings about parenthood, marriage, and her professional life and onto a path of inquiry into the soul of
an artist.