In Espresso Tales, Alexander McCall Smith pays another entertaining visit to Edinburgh and the lively residents of 44 Scotland Street. Bruce is planning a new career as a wine merchant, while his long-suffering flatmate Pat, set up by matchmaking Domenica Macdonald, finds herself at a nudist picnic in Moray Place. And young Bertie Pollock, who longs for a boy's life of fishing and rugby, not the yoga and pink dungarees foisted upon him by his bossy mother Irene, is plotting rebellion.
However, when he lands himself in a sticky situation involving a card game and legendary Glasgow hard-man Lard O'Connor, he realises he must be careful what he wishes for...