The Right Attitude to Rain is the third of the Sunday Philosophy Club series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Edinburgh, Scotland, and featuring the protagonist Isabel Dalhousie.

Due to an inheritance left to her by her late mother, she can work for a nominal fee as the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.

Her closest friends are her niece Cat, a young woman who runs a delicatessen; her housekeeper Grace, an outspoken woman with an interest in spiritualism; Cat's ex-boyfriend Jamie, a bassoonist to whom Isabel has been secretly attracted ever since they met; and Brother Fox, an urban fox who lives in Isabel's garden.

The Right Attitude to Rain presents the culmination of a relationship that had been suggested since the first appearance of Isabel and Jamie in The Sunday Philosophy Club.

McCall Smith admits that there has always been "tension" and "affection" between the two characters but was originally unsure of whether to develop their friendship into a sexual relationship: "I think that’s something one would have to handle very carefully because ... Isabel has a very real sense of what can be and what can’t be.

[1] McCall Smith also found that the unfulfilled nature of the relationship was good for the novel, commenting that "Erotic tension is much sexier than fulfilment" and that reading about other people not getting what they want is interesting because "It's the story of all our lives."

"[4] BookReporter.com agrees that this is the most interesting aspect of the novel, saying, "For the first time Alexander McCall Smith fleshes out this eccentric and delightful woman".

"[5] InTheNews.com disagrees, saying that "the interjections of philosophical and high-brow intellectual reasoning ... can seem snobbish and isolating to the average reader, ie those without a PhD."

However, it says that the novel is "packed full of quirky characters, feel-good moments and beautiful settings" and summarises it as: "Thoughtful.

"[6] Time Out London's website is critical of the unfolding of the plot, finding it "a little too neat and Miss Marple-y", while the ending is "far too trite" with "the curious moral message that the best way to overcome difficulties is to get pregnant.