Alexander McCall Smith
Author
Summary
"In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must it have been like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that. This...
Author
Formats
Summary
"From the beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a new short story collection: half spy stories, half tales of revenge, all highlight the kinder, funnier, and gentler side of espionage and retribution. In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself--quite...
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 2
Summary
Tears of the Giraffe takes us further into the life of the engaging and sassy Precious Ramotswe, the owner and detective of Botswana's only Ladies' detective agency. Among her cases are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids and a challenge to resolve a mother's pain for her son, who is long lost on the African plains. Mma Ramotswe's own impending marriage to that most gentlemanly of men, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, the promotion of her secretary to the dizzy...
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Series
Isabel Dalhousie volume 1
Summary
Isabel is fond of problems, and sometimes she becomes interested in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. This may be the case when Isabel sees a young man plunge to his death from the upper circle of a concert hall in Edinburgh. Despite the advice of her housekeeper, Grace, who has been raised in the values of traditional Edinburgh, and her niece, Cat, who, if you ask Isabel, is dating the wrong man, Isabel is determined to find...
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 13
Summary
"Precious Ramotswe is back and, as usual, her plate is full! She's called in to tackle a mysterious disciplinary problem at her adopted daughter's school...Her infinitely trustworthy assistant, Grace Makutsi, is having trouble adjusting to wedded bliss, a problem to test even the formidable talents of Mma Ramotswe...And the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Investigation--the No. 1 Ladies' prized manual--has arrived, right...
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Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 12
Summary
Hoping to reclaim a van that was featured in a possible prophetic dream, Precious and Grace find themselves helping an apprentice of Phuti Radiphuti, investigating a cattle poisoning, and considering Grace's possible marriage to Phuti.
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 9
Summary
In the ninth mystery of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe visits a game preserve to uncover the truth about an elderly American traveler whose safari proves to be his last journey.
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No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 11
Summary
The Okavango makes Precious appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland. However, it is also home to rival safari operators, fearsome crocodiles and disgruntled hippopotamuses. Mma Makutdi still does not have a date for her wedding but Precious knows a wide river will make its way round any obstacle, things will work out for the best.
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Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 6
Summary
In the newest addition to the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies? Detective Agency series, the charming and ever-resourceful Precious Ramotswe finds herself overly beset by problems. She is already busier than usual at the detective agency when added to her concerns are a strange intruder in her house on Zebra Drive and the baffling appearance of a pumpkin. And then there is Mma Makutsi, who decides to treat herself to dance lessons, only to be partnered...
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Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 14
Summary
"Precious Ramotswe is approached by the lawyer Mma Sheba, who is the executor of a deceased farmer's estate. Mma Sheba has a feeling that a young man may be impersonating the farmer's nephew in order to claim his inheritance. Then the proprietor of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon comes to Mma Ramotswe for advice. Rumors are swirling that the salon is using products that burn people's skin. Is someone trying to put the salon out of business? Meanwhile,...
Author
Series
Summary
"In the latest book in the widely beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe takes on a case for a childhood acquaintance but her inquiries will require an even more delicate touch than usual. Mma Ramotswe reconnects with an old friend who has been having problems with her daughter. Though Precious feels compelled to lend a hand, she discovers that getting involved in family affairs is always a delicate proposion. Mr. J.L.B....
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 10
Summary
Precious Ramotswe uses her formidable detection talents to track down her tiny white van--sold by her estimable husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and stolen from its new owner--while simultaneously helping to explain the dreadful losing streak of a local football team and smoothing out a snag in Mma Makutsi's engagement to Mr Phuti Radiphut.
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Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 16
Summary
Business is slow at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, so slow in fact that for the first time in her estimable career Precious Ramotswe has reluctantly agreed to take a holiday. The promise of a week of uninterrupted peace is short-lived, however, when she meets a young boy named Samuel, a troublemaker who is himself in some trouble. Once she learns more about Samuel's sad story, Mma Ramotswe feels compelled to step in and help him find his way...
Author
Series
Summary
"Precious Ramotswe learns valuable lessons about first impressions and forgiveness in this latest installment of the beloved and best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are approached by their part-time colleague, Mr. Polopetsi, with a troubling story: a woman, accused of being rude to a valued customer, has been wrongly dismissed from her job at an office furniture store. Never one to let an act of injustice...
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Series
Isabel Dalhousie volume 2
Summary
In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith's best-selling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart--this one a transplant. When Isabel's niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly...
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Series
Summary
If you are the founder and managing director of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, you may expect complete strangers to approach you with their problems when they see you having dinner with your husband in a peri-peri restaurant. And if you are Precious Ramotswe, you are a kind and helpful person who will be willing to take on a quest to find the relatives of a man who, many years ago, left the country for the uncertainties and dangers of a distant...
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 5
Summary
Mma Precious Ramotswe is engaged to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. She wonders when the wedding date will be set, but she is anxious to avoid putting too much pressure on her fiance. For, indeed, he has other things on his mind---notably a frightening request made of him by Mma Potokwane, the pushy matron of the Orphan Farm.
Author
Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 15
Pub. Date
2014
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Summary
"The newest installment in the beloved and best-selling series. In this delightful fifteenth installment, Mma Ramotswe has her hands full both at home and in the office. To add to her current challenges, her devoted partner, Grace Makutsi, has decided to branch out on her own and open The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe. But even "Miss 97 Per Cent" can't quite meet all the demands of running a business--not to mention those that a lightning strike makes...
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Series
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency volume 17
Summary
"The delightful seventeenth installment of the ever-popular, perennially best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective, is a little short on help. The co-director of the agency, Grace Makutsi, is busy with her own case, her client none other than their erstwhile assistant, Mr. Polopetsi, who has unwittingly involved himself in a pyramid scheme. The agency's other assistant, Charlie, may also...
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Series
Corduroy mansions volume 1
Summary
Corduroy Mansions is the nickname given to a building in London's vibrant Pimlico neighborhood, home to a captivating collection of quirky characters. The author traces their amusing foibles and interactions through the ins and outs of neighborliness in all its unexpected variations.