Illustrations below are from The Dog Who Came In From The Cold the
new Corduroy Mansions novel by Alexander McCall Smith daily online at www.telegraph.co.uk. The book of the first series is now available now in hardback from Polygon books
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from episode 6
The law was a harder nut to crack, but cracked it would duly be, as would the world of finance, aviation, broadcasting, and so on. Soon there would be no place for men in any of these callings, although there would always be secretarial positions of course.
from episode 12
“Half my professional time,” said Berthea over her shoulder, “is spent trying to help people who simply don’t have any purpose in their lives. They come to me because they are unhappy – they think that therapy will help. But what are they trying to heal? The wound in their psyche or the wound in society? They’re actually perfectly all right in themselves – it’s society that has done the damage because it’s the one that’s sick.”
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from episode 18
The trip from which Marcia sought to dissuade him was hardly a dangerous one; William was no Mungo Park, setting off into uncharted regions of the upper Senegal Basin; Mungo Parks’ mother, he imagined, was probably dead-set against her son wandering off to Africa like that, as no doubt was Mrs Livingstone; but if they had advised their sons not to go, then they had been ignored.
Terence Moongrove's poorly maintained Queen Anne house on the edge of Cheltenham.
from episode 24
Berthea cut out all newspaper references to Oedipus, including this one, which appeared in a particularly waspish diary column. She did this not as most fond mothers did, pasting the cuttings into bulging scrapbooks; she preserved these items as material for her project and, possibly, as evidence.
from episode 30
They boarded the train. A woman with a clipboard, a diminutive woman with a strong Glaswegian accent, showed them to their compartments, two single-bed cabins with a communicating door between. For a moment Barbara felt a twinge of disappointment, but then asked herself what she had expected. Sleepers did not have double bunks, of course, because that was not the point of a sleeper. You were meant to sleep when on a sleeper – as the name suggested.
The woman took their order for morning tea, which would be served, she said, just before they drew in to Glasgow. Then it would be on to Fort William, where they would arrive shortly after ten. Then, with a smile, she left them.
from episode 36
“I think they call it the Code of Practice for Cat Owners. The government brought it out recently.”
“Our government?” asked William incredulously.
“Yes, believe it or not. They said that all cat owners should follow the Code’s advice. It talks about providing your cat with intellectual stimulation and so on.”
from episode 54
“Exactly,” said Sorley. “And this part of the world is full of energy. Wind energy. Tidal energy. And so on.” He sighed again. “That’s the theory. But try getting any of this started and … Well, there are all sorts of difficulties and problems put in your way. And contractors too. Don’t talk to me about contractors.”
The farm road veered sharply to the right and the house came into view. Barbara almost gasped, but stopped herself in time. She had expected something simple; they had passed a number of farmhouses on the way all of which had an air of solid, rural simplicity about them. This house, which was painted white, was considerably larger than the others she had seen, and considerably more beautiful.