At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
Reduced indeed! This short series by Alexander McCall Smith following the missteps of Dr. von Igelfeld, the well-intentioned but misguided professor of romantic philology, slightly degrades from book to book. I loved Portuguese Irregular Verbs, but the following two books weren't up to scratch. They were close in quality, but lacked the witty essence of the first.
The problem with At the Villa… is that it goes over the top more than the previous two. The ridiculous situations are more Three Stooges than Oscar Wilde. Von Igelfeld's short sojourn to Cambridge University was nice (it being a personal favorite stop on a UK trip I made,) but then he's off to South America and things get unreal.
I still really enjoyed it though! It's got enough subtle and dry humor to entertain those who liked what they read in P.I.V., but generally the delicate stuff gets trampled under foot as Smith goes for the broader laugh.
Rating: 3.5 stars