The Department of Sensitive Crimes

So apparently Alexander McCall Smith has decided to start a new genre of literature that he refers to as ScandiBlanc--a tongue in cheek response to the growing popularity of ScandiNoir. In this book, no one dies a grisly death. Someone does get stabbed in the back of the knee, and an imaginary boyfriend goes missing, and then there is the man who suffers from lycanthropy. All of these somewhat unusual and sensitive crimes have been referred to the Department of Sensitive Affairs within the Malmö (Sweden) Criminal Investigation Authority (CIA). The office is staffed by 3 detectives: lead detective Ulf Varg, and his associates Anna Bengtsdotter and Carl Holgersson, supported by clerical assistant, Erik Nykvist, who lives and hopes to soon retire in order to fish. I would say the entire tenor of the book is slow, thoughtful, and gentle. Nobody rushes around. Nothing is terribly urgent...except when Ulf needs to intervene to keep a defendant assigned community service at the local military base from being put onto the bomb disposal squad. Ulf is somewhat in love with Anna but refuses to allow himself to even contemplate involvement because she is married with two daughters. Neverthless, they work very well together because they have the same sensibilities and notice the same details in the world. They can finish one another's sentences. The detectives are occasionally aided in their investigations by the local policeman, Blomquist, who has tried and failed numerous times to get assigned to Sensitive Crimes. He feels undervalued and he talks a lot about a lot of different things, which makes him a rather annoying companion. When the police commissioner calls Ulf in to undertake a very discreet investigation, he assigns Blomquist to accompany Ulf, much to Ulf's chagrin. But all's well that ends well. The knifing culprit is caught and is remorseful, the truth about the imaginary boyfriend comes out, and Ulf tries to find help for the man who thinks he's a wolf. Not sure what to say about this book. It's not sufficiently thought provoking nor sufficiently engaging to get rave reviews from me. I have been a big fan of McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, which now extended to 20 installments, and is similar in many ways to the tone and pace of this book. But the characters are more interesting as is the locale. In fact, there is very little setting in this current book and I miss that. He has two additional series with multiple volunes: 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie series--also a detective focus. Reviews are available from the usual sources: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and The NYTimes.