Alexander McCall Smith

"From the author of the best-selling and universally adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series--a stand-alone, big-hearted, and often heartbreaking novel about unrequited love and the unexpected places it takes us. At age 4, Clover chooses her own name. At age 6, she falls in love with her best friend, James, with whom she happily spends all her time. But in the adult world, things are not so simple: at the same time that Clover's mother finds...

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to help people with problems in their lives. Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs...

The students and crew aboard the School Ship Tobermory head to Australia to take part in a tall ships race, but an unexpected change of course brings a different kind of adventure.

Before becoming the first female private investigator in Botswana, eight-year-old Precious Ramotswe tracks down a thief who has been stealing her classmates' snacks.

Staying with Aunty Bee at a safari camp in the Botswana countryside where a film crew is making a movie about a lion, nine-year-old Precious Ramotswe and her resourceful new friend Khumo use their detective skills to find the movie star lion when he goes missing.

"Precious Ramotswe has two new friends at school and they have the funniest and most resourceful pet you can imagine. But they are upset that their family's most valuable possession, their cow, has gone missing. Precious has a plan to find the missing animal but she needs the help of another in her search. Will she succeed and what obstacles will she face on her path?"

"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...

Mma Ramotswe is engaged to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, but no wedding date has been set so Ramotswe keeps busy running her detective agency. Ramotswe is hired by a wealthy woman to determine whether her suitors are really interested in her or just her money.

Precious Ramotswe is challenged by a strange intruder at her home, the appearance in her yard of a mysterious pumpkin, troubles at her husband's motorworks, and a vistior who forces her to confront a painful secret from her past.

As the temperature rises in Gaborone, Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, wonders whether the heat could be the reason that business is particularly slow. But then a distant cousin of Mma Ramotswe's comes to the agency with a plea for help and the ladies decide to pursue the issue together. Armed with Mma Ramotswe's circumspection and Mma Makutsi's sharp eye, they proceed with confidence and open hearts. What, after all,...