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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 3-Book Box Set
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Anchor Trade Paperback Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-1-4000-3477-2 February 2003
"The Miss Marple of Botswana." -- The New York Times Book Review
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 at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency received two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.
Also available in a Mass Market Edition
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Anchor Mass Market Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-1-4000-9688-6 July 2005
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Tears of the Giraffe
Anchor Trade Paperback Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-1-4000-3135-1 September 2002
"One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming
books to appear in years." -- The Plain Dealer
Precious Ramotswe is the eminently sensible and cunning proprietor of the only ladies' detective agency in Botswana. In Tears of the Giraffe she tracks a wayward wife, uncovers an unscrupulous maid, and searches for an American man who disappeared into the plains many years ago. In the midst of resolving uncertainties, pondering her impending marriage to a good, kind man, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, and the promotion of her talented secretary (a graduate of the Botswana Secretarial College, with a mark of 97 per cent), she also finds her family suddenly and unexpectedly increased by two.
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Morality for Beautiful Girls
Anchor Trade Paperback Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-1-4000-3136-8 November 2002
"One of the most entrancing literary treats of many a year.... A
tapestry of extraordinary nuance and richness." -- The Wall Street Journal
In Morality for Beautiful Girls, Precious Ramotswe, founder and owner of the only detective agency for the concerns of both ladies and others, investigates the alleged poisoning of the brother of an important "Government Man," and the moral character of the four finalists of the Miss Beauty and Integrity Contest, the winner of which will almost certainly be a contestant for the title of Miss Botswana. Yet her business is having money problems, and when other difficulties arise at her fiance's Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, she discovers the reliable Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is more complicated then he seems.
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 3-Volume Boxed Set
Anchor Boxed Set Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths October 2003 978-0-679-78975-8
The first three books in Alexander McCall Smith's beloved bestselling series, featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe, the traditionally built, eminently sensible, cunning proprietor of the only ladies' detective agency in Botswana, are now available in a beautifully designed boxed set.
Also available in a 5-Volume Boxed Set
Anchor Boxed Set Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-0-307-26158-8 November 2005
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The Kalahari Typing School For Men
Anchor Fiction - Mystery & Detective Trade Paperback March 2004 978-1-4000-3180-1
"What a treat. . . . Utterly charming." -- Entertainment Weekly
Mma Precious Ramotswe is content. Her business is well established with many satisfied customers, and in her mid-thirties ("the finest age to be") she has a house, two adopted children, a fine fiancé. But, as always, there are troubles. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has not set the date for their marriage. Her able assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband. And worse, a rival detective agency has opened in town--an agency that does not have the gentle approach to business that Mma Ramotswe's does. But, of course, Precious will manage these things, as she always does, with her uncanny insight and her good heart.
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The Full Cupboard of Life
Anchor Fiction - Mystery & Detective Trade Paperback January 2005 978-1-4000-3181-8
"Utterly enchanting." --Chicago Sun-Times
Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni are still engaged, but with no immediate plans to get married. Mma Ramotswe wonders when a wedding date will be named, but she is anxious to avoid putting pressure on her fiancé. For indeed he has other things on his mind--particularly a frightening request (involving a parachute jump) made by Mma Potokwani, the persuasive matron of the orphan farm. Mma Ramotswe herself has weighty matters on her mind, including a case in which a wealthy woman wonders whether her suitors are interested in her or just her money. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi--plucky assistant detective and deputy manager of the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors garage--is moving. Her entrepreneurial venture, the Kalahari Typing School for Men, is thriving and with this new income she has rented two rooms in a house.
In the background of all this is Botswana, a country of empty spaces and echoing skies, a country so beautiful and entrancing that it breaks your heart. Mma Ramotswe has prepared the bush tea and is waiting for us to join her.
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In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Anchor Fiction - Mystery & Detective Trade Paperback March 2006 978-1-4000-7570-6
"A literary confection of . . . gossamer deliciousness. . . . There is no end to the pleasure that may be extracted from [this book]." --The New York Times Book Review
In this latest, widely praised addition to the beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the charming and ever-resourceful Precious Ramotswe finds herself faced with new challenges--and intriguing surprises.
Precious is busier than usual at the detective agency when she discovers an intruder in her house on Zebra Drive--and perhaps even more baffling--a pumpkin on her porch. Her associate, Mma Makutsi, also has a full plate. She's taken up dance lessons, only to be partnered with a man with two left feet. And at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is already overburdened with work, one of his apprentices has run off with a wealthy older woman. But what finally rattles Mma Ramotswe’s normally unshakable composure is a visitor who forces her to confront a difficult secret from her past.
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Blue Shoes and Happiness
Anchor Fiction - Mystery & Detective Trade Paperback March 2007 978-1-4000-7571-3
"Beguiling, lyrical . . . Blessed with McCall Smith’s richly detailed portraits of life in Africa and his flair for storytelling with an engaging cast of fully realized characters."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
In this latest installment in the internationally best-selling, universally beloved series, there is considerable excitement at The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. A cobra has been found in Precious Ramotswe’s office. Then a nurse from a local medical clinic reveals that faulty blood–pressure readings are being recorded there. And Botswana has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang, whose advice is rather curt for Mma Ramotswe’s taste.
All this means a lot of work for our heroine and her inestimable assistant, Grace Makutsi, and they are, of course, up to the challenge. But there’s trouble brewing in Mma Makutsi’s own life.
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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Anchor Trade Paperback Fiction - Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths 978-1-4000-7572-0 March 2008
"McCall Smith's fans seem to hunger for the kindness, dignity and humor he celebrates in Mma Ramotswe, and this book will not disappoint them." -- The Oregonian
There is rarely a dull moment in the life of Precious Ramotswe, and on Zebra Drive and Tlokweng Road many changes are afoot. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni wants be put in charge of a case involving an errant husband, and Mma Makutsi is considering leaving the agency, taking her near perfect score on the Botswana Secretarial College typing exam with her. Meanwhile, Mma Ramotswe has been asked to investigate a series of unexpected deaths at the hospital in Mochudi. Along the way, she encounters other tricky mysteries, and once again displays her undying love for Botswana, a country of which she is justly proud.
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