Alexander McCall Smith

When her niece Cat travels to a wedding in Italy, Isabel agrees to fill in at Cat's delicatessen. She takes note of a customer named Ian, who is avoiding chocolate--doctors say it's bad for the new heart he recently recieved. Ian is haunted by memories he can't quite place, prompting Isabel to wonder if his new heart may be the cause. Always keenly interested in matters of the heart, Isabel investigates and discovers some rather surprising truths....

Mma Ramotswe has been engaged to Mr. J.L.B Matekoni for quite some time, and still they have no wedding date. But she doesn't want to be too pushy, for Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has much on his mind. Mma Potokwani, who runs the orphan farm, has tricked him into a parachute jump to benefit charity.

When she asks her husband to fix her tiny white van, Precious Ramotswe fears he might just sell the vehicle and buy her something more modern, which he promptly does. Since this simply will not do, Precious sets to tracking the car down, only to learn it has already been stolen from the new owner. Recovery is further hampered when the proprietor of a local football team caught up in an epic losing streak suspects he may have a traitor in the ranks....

Between intriguing new cases and troubling personal developments, Precious' hands are full. She investigates the claim of an important government worker, who suspects his brother is being poisoned. Meanwhile, assistant detective Mma Makutsi explores the moral fiber of four beauty pageant contestants.

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.

"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...

"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...

In 1939, Lavender Stone flees London to escape the German bombs and her shattered marriage. Settling in a small town, she pulls together a makeshift orchestra to help cope with the times.

In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: 'You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently...

In addition to being the nosiest and most sypathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel is now a mother. Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life, and doting father Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove. None of these things,...