The Sunday Philosophy Club

                                                by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel Dalhousie was a philosopher and she edited a philosophical journal: The Review of Applied Ethics.

The Sunday Philosophy Club was not exactly very active. But here, Isabel could discuss with her friends the moral responsibility of people, or the sort of things like that. She knew that there were occasions when hypocrisy was necessary in order to protect the feelings of others. There was a distinction between lying and telling half-truth, but it was very narrow one.

That evening, after a concert in the Usher Hall, Isabel saw a man who tumbled to his death from the gods. Mark Fraser died. Or rather he was killed, thought Isabel. There was no room for dubt there. Why had been Mark sent to his death? Curiosity killed the cat, and Isabel thought long and hard about it. During the night she had woken up, stared at the shadows on the ceiling and finally made her decision: she wanted to find out about this murder, even she was a helpless amateur gumshoe.

Why she involved herself in these matters? It was a question she should have asked herself more often, but did not. She wanted to know why things happened. She was curious and she found it intellectually exciting to become involved. She did not like to leave things unfinished.