Alexander McCall Smith, página 2 de 11

Hijas descarriadas. Maridos desaparecidos. Infidelidades y ligues… Ningún problema, aunque parezca insoluble, se resiste a Precious Ramotswe, la mejor -y la única- mujer detective de Botswana… Una original Miss Marple a la africana, armada tan sólo con su ingenio, su intuición y su sentido común para enfrentarse a los enigmas que le plantean sus clientes… Precious va a necesitar todas sus habilidades -y las de su amigo J.L.B. Matekoni- para seguir el rastro de un niño que ha desaparecido… Una novela con el ritmo vital de África: reposada, entrañable y subyugante…

It has never occurred to Precious Ramotswe that there might be disadvantages to being the best-known lady detective in Botswana. But when she receives a threatening anonymous letter, she is compelled to reconsider her unconquerable belief in a kind world and good neighbours. While she ponders the identity of the letter-writer Mma Ramotswe has a further set of problems to solve, both professional and personal. There is an adopted child's poignant search for her true family, and Mr J. L. B. Matekoni's pursuit of an expensive miracle for their own foster daughter Motholeli. With these latest developments on Tlokweng Road, Alexander McCall Smith reveals with all his brilliant storytelling skill that there are very few troubles that cannot be solved with kindness, and very few dry seasons that do not end with welcome rain.

THE NO.1 LADIES'' DETECTIVE AGENCY introduced the world to the one and only Precious Ramotswe - the engaging and sassy owner of Botswana''s only detective agency. TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE, McCall Smith''s second book, takes us further into this world as we follow Mama Ramotswe into more daring situations ...Among her cases this time are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids, and the challenge to resolve a mother''s pain for her son who is long lost on the African plains. Indeed, Mma Ramotswe''s own impending marriage to the most gentlemanly of men, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, the promotion of Mma''s secretary to the dizzy heights of Assistant Detective, and the arrival of new members to the Matekoni family, all brew up the most humorous and charmingly entertaining of tales. * TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE was selected as one of the GUARDIAN''s top ten ''Fiction Paperbacks of the Year, 2000

Long-suffering child genius Bertie Pollock has much to contend with in the latest instalment of life at 44 Scotland Street, not least the birth of his brother Ulysses. Bertie had hoped that caring for a new baby would command all of his mother?s attention, but he quickly sees that his dream of being left to his own devices is not destined to come true. Overprotective Irene bans Bertie from the playground, but then forgets little Ulysses outside the delicatessen, and suffers a deeply embarrassing moment when she unwittingly retrieves the wrong baby. Meanwhile, for the other residents of Scotland Street, all?s fair in love and friendship. Big Lou finds a new man, Matthew and Pat edge their relationship towards something more permanent - although this development is not without complications, when a glimpse of someone who just might be her handsome, caddish ex-flatmate Bruce sets Pat?s pulse racing - and Domenica?s friendship with Antonia is tested to the limit when an assortment of her belongings mysteriously appear in Antonia's new flat.

Includes brilliant baboon facts! Akimbo loves his life in Africa and the animals that live there. In this newest Akimbo story, a lady comes to study the baboons in the game reserve where Akimbo''s father is the head ranger. Akimbo is keen to help and find out all he can about baboons - and in so doing comes closer to a much more dangerous animal

To the casual observer, the great enlightened city of Edinburgh, home of no-nonsense philosophers and cream teas, might appear immune to the rollercoaster of strong emotions. But at 44 Scotland Street, as Matthew and Elspeth embark on the risky enterprise of married love, the raffish portrait painter Angus Lordie has a premonition of disaster. And soon enough Irene Pollock is shocked to learn that her small son Bertie harbours a highly unsuitable ambition; the gloriously vain Bruce discovers a wrinkle and confronts rejection; and Angus finds himself facing the grave consequences of unbridled bliss, not to mention a large Glaswegian gangster bearing gifts ...

The 10th installment of the bestselling The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel series finds Precious Ramotswe in personal need of her own formidable detection talents. Alexander Mc Call Smith has contributed to Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: A No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel as an author. Alexander McCall Smith is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, beloved New York Times and international best sellers. A practicing professor of medical law and the author of over fifty books, ranging from children's fiction to folktales to The Criminal Law of Botswana, he lives in Edinburgh.

This novel has the usual combination of light-hearted gentleness and forensic acuity, reminding the reader never to underestimate McCall Smith's fundamental seriousness of purpose * Sydney Morning Herald * This novel has the usual combination of light-hearted gentleness and forensic acuity, reminding the reader never to underestimate McCall Smith's fundamental seriousness of purpose * Sydney Morning Herald * While My Italian Bulldozer certainly advocates a kind, considerate, some might even say old-fashioned approach to resolving affairs of the heart, it also succeeds in subtly, almost imperceptibly ripping up the traditional rules of the romantic comedy and creating something refreshingly original * Scotsman * While My Italian Bulldozer certainly advocates a kind, considerate, some might even say old-fashioned approach to resolving affairs of the heart, it also succeeds in subtly, almost imperceptibly ripping up the traditional rules of the romantic comedy and creating something refreshingly original * Scotsman *

Bertie's respite from his overbearing mother, Irene, is over. She has returned from the middle-east, only to discover that her son has been exposed to the worst evils of cartoons, movies and Irn Bru, and her wrath falls upon her unfortunate husband, Stuart. Meanwhile, Bruce has fallen in love with someone other than himself; Big Lou wants to adopt her beloved Finlay; Matthew and Elspeth host the Duke of Johannesburg for supper and Bertie decides he wants to move out of Scotland Street altogether and live with his grandmother, Nicola.

If only Pat Macgregor had an inkling of the embarrassment romantic, professional, even aesthetic that flowed from accepting narcissistic ex-boyfriend Bruce Anderson''s invitation for coffee, she would never have said yes. And if only Matthew, her boss at the art gallery, hadn''t wandered into his local bookshop and picked up a particular book at a particular time, he would never have knocked over his former English teacher or attracted the attentions of the police.Whether caused by small things such as a cup of coffee and a book, or major events such as Stuart''s application for promotion and his wife Irene''s decision to go off and study for a PhD in Aberdeen, change is coming to serial fiction''s favourite street. But for three seven-year-old boys Bertie Pollock, Ranald Braveheart Macpherson, and Big Lou''s foster son Finlay - it also means a getting a glimpse of perfect happiness.

Precious and Grace is a story about life at Botswana''s leading No. 1 Ladies'' detective agency.One bright morning, Precious Ramotswe - head of Botswana''s No. 1 Ladies'' Detective Agency - receives a visitor: a woman from Australia. This woman asks Precious to take on a case: to find the nursemaid who raised her during her childhood in Botswana. The woman wants to thank her for being such an important part of her life. Precious has a history of successfully solving cases, but this one proves difficult and throws up a number of surprises and challenges.Back in her office, next door to the Speedy Motors Garage on Twokleng Road, Precious also has a team to manage: Mr Polopetsi, a part-time science teacher and new assistant at the agency; she mentors Charlie, a former apprentice and young man too handsome and charming for his own good - a man who has gotten himself in deep water; and then there is Precious''s tumultuous but heart-warming friendship with her co-director, the fiery Grace Makutsi.Precious and Grace is a story about being a detective, the complexities of human nature, as well as lessons about gratitude and obligation.

Isabel Dalhousie is one of Edinburgh''s most generous (but discreet) philanthropists - but should she be more charitable? She wonders, sometimes, if she is too judgmental about her niece''s amorous exploits, too sharp about her housekeeper''s spiritual beliefs, too ready to bristle in battle against her enemies. As the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, she doesn''t, of course, allow herself actual enemies, but she does feel enmity - especially towards two academics who have just arrived in the city. Isabel feels they''re a highly destabilizing influence; little tremors in the volcanic rock upon which an Enlightened Edinburgh perches. Equally troubling is the situation of the little boy who is convinced he had a previous life. When Isabel is called upon to help, she finds herself questioning her views on reincarnation. And the nature of grief. And - crucially - the positioning of lighthouses. The only questions Isabel doesn''t have to address concern her personal life. With her young son and devoted husband her home life is blissfully content. Which is the best possible launching pad for the next issue of the Review - the Happiness issue. As Isabel is beginning to appreciate, happiness, for most people, is not quite what it seems ...

Mma Ramotswe is not one to sit about. Her busy life as the proprietress of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency gives her little time for relaxation. Nonetheless, she is persuaded by her co-director Mma Makutsi to take a holiday. But Mma Ramotswe finds it impossible to resist the temptation to interfere with the agency's cases - secretly, she intends ...This leads her to delve into the past of a man whose reputation has been called into question. It also leads her to an orphan named Samuel. Meanwhile, Violet Sephotho, Mma Makutsi's arch-enemy, has had the temerity to set up a new secretarial college - one that aims to rival that great institution, the Botswana Secretarial College. Will she get her comeuppance? It will be a close-run thing.

For seven-year-old Bertie Pollock, life in Edinburgh's most celebrated fictional street has just got immeasurably better. The enforced absence of his endlessly pushy mother Irene - currently consciousness-raising in a Bedouin harem (don't ask) - has manifold and immediate blessings: no psychotherapy, no Italian lessons and no yoga classes. Bliss. For Scotland Street's grown-ups, life throws up some new dilemmas. Matthew makes a discovery that could make him even richer but also leaves him worried. Pat makes one that could make her poorer and her father miserable - unless that uber-narcissist, Bruce, can help her out. And the Duke of Johannesburg, we discover, isn't exactly who he says he is. From what happens behind Edinburgh Airport's luggage carousel to Machiavellian manoeuvrings at the Association of Scottish Nudists, Alexander McCall Smith guides us through the brighter, lighter and frankly unexpected side of Edinburgh life. As ever with his 44 Scotland Street series, his readers will make their own discovery: that its blend of wit and wisdom mark it out as a comedic tour de force.

The fourth novel in the hugely popular Sunday Philosophy Club series

Mma Ramostwe's friend will persuade her to stand for election to the City Council. 'We need women like her in politics,' Mma Potokwani says, 'instead of having the same old men every time . . .' To be elected, Mma Ramotswe must have a platform and some policies. She will have to canvas opinion. She will have to get Mma Makutsi's views. Her slogan is 'I can't promise anything - but I shall do my best'. Her intention is to halt the construction of the Big Fun Hotel, a dubious, flashy hotel near a graveyard - an act that many consider to be disrespectful. Mma Ramotswe will take the campaign as far as she can, but lurking around the corner, as ever, is the inextinguishable Violet Sephotho.