Alexander McCall Smith, página 4 de 11

It is summer in Edinburgh and Isabel Dalhousie is once again caught between 'gossip' and significant rumour. It is none of her business that Patricia, the mother of her son Charlie's little friend Basil, is estranged from Basil's father, or that the woman has a somewhat brazen attitude to childcare. And yet, it is curious. Isabel, however, has much else on her mind as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. Along with the work involved for its impending next issue, she really needs to get her house in order and tend to the demands of her niece, Cat. Thankfully, the arrival of Antonia, the exuberant Italian au pair, will take care of urgent chores. And the hiring of Claire, a diligent if unsettlingly beautiful new assistant at the Review, surely means that Isabel can breathe, at least a little. But her sharp observation and assured role as confidante soon have Isabel doubting all her recent decisions. What's more, her instinct to help others may have put her in real danger. In her desire to run both a smooth household and working life, has she simply created more chaos? Perhaps the quiet side of passion is, after all, the best side on which to be?

The latest installment from THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY series Mma Ramotswe'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 business 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.

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 Okavango makes Mma Ramotswe appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland: it is a paradise of teeming wildlife, majestic grasslands and sparkling water.

In the latest installment of this infinitely enjoyable and best-selling series, Precious Ramotswe is doing what she does best--helping people with their problems and enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Mma Ramotswe is busy investigating her latest case: a woman who is looking for her family. The problem is, the woman doesn''t know her real name of whether any members of her family are now living. Meanwhile, Phuti Radiphuti has bought Mma Makutsi a glorious new bed. Unfortunately, it will inadvertently cause her several sleepless nights. And life is no less complicated at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni--Mma Ramotswe''s estimable husband--has fallen under the sway of a doctor who has promised a miracle cure for his daughter''s medical condition, which Mma Ramotswe finds hard to believe. But Precious Ramotswe deals with these difficulties with her usual grace and good humor, and in the end discovers that the biggest miracles in life are often the small ones.

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

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

For philosophically minded Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, getting through life with a clear conscience requires careful thought. And with the arrival of baby Charlie, not to mention a passionate relationship with his father Jamie, fourteen years her junior, Isabel enters deeper and rougher waters. Late motherhood is not the only challenge facing Isabel. Even as she negotiates a truce with her furious niece Cat, and struggles for authority over her son with her formidable housekeeper Grace, Isabel finds herself drawn into the story of a painter''s mysterious death off the island of Jura. Perhaps most seriously of all, Isabel''s professional existence and that of her beloved Review come under attack from the machiavellian and suspiciously handsome Professor Dove. A master storyteller whether debating ethics in Edinburgh or pursuing lady detectives in Africa, here Alexander McCall Smith is as witty and wise as his irresistibly spirited heroine.

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.

Continúan las aventuras de la Primera Agencia de Mujeres Detectives en el corazón de África.Ahora que por fin se ha casado y además felizmente, con su pretendiente de toda la vida el señor J. L. B. Matekoni, la señora Ramotswe de la Primera Agencia de Mujeres Detectives de Botsuana, esperaba que su vida se desarrollara de manera mas tranquila. Pero los muchos problemas que tienen los clientes que esperan a su puerta parecen multiplicarse por momentos, y tan pronto como cree que ha asentado su perfectamente construida personalidad dentro del estado matrimonial, se encuentra metida de lleno en asuntos problematicos. Aunque los problemas son menos problemas para Precious Ramotswe ante una taza de te roiboos.

Isabel Dalhousie is a new mother and a connoisseur of philosophy; she''d rather not be a sleuth But when a chance conversation at a dinner party draws Isabel into the case of a doctor whose career has been ruined, she cannot ignore what may be a miscarriage of justice Because for Isabel ethics are not theoretical at all, but an everyday matter of life and death...Isabel Dalhousie es una nueva madre y buena aficionada a la filosofia: preferiria no ser detective Pero cuando una conversacion escuchada al azar durante una cena lleva a Isabel a encargarse del caso de un medico cuya carrera ha sido arruinada, ella no puede ignorar lo que podria ser un error de la justicia Pues para Isabel la etica no tiene nada de teorico, sino que es un elemento mas de la vida y de la muerte que ella se encuentra cada dia...

In the fabulous new installment in the best-selling adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, Isabel is asked to help a doctor who has been disgraced by allegations of scientific fraud concerning a newly marketed drug. Our ever-curious moral philosopher finds her interest piqued. Would a doctor with a stellar reputation make such a simple but grave mistake? If not, what explains the tragic accident that resulted in the death of a patient? Clearly, an investigation is in order, especially since a man''s reputation is in jeopardy. Could he be the victim of someone else''s mistake? Or perhaps he has been willfully deceived by a pharmaceutical company with a great deal to gain.

Mister Varg is a Sandinavian Blanc novel. Scandinavian Blanc is different from Scandinavian Noir: there is nothing noir about the world of Ulf Varg, a detective in the Sensitive Crimes Department in the Swedish city of Malmo. Ulf is concerned with very odd, but not too threatening crimes - injuries to the back of the knee caused by an unknown hand, young women who allow their desperation for a boyfriend to get the better of them, and peculiar goings-on in a spa on Sweden's south coast.Of course, Ulf is a Swedish detective, and Swedish detectives, by convention, lead lives beset with problems of one sort or another. For a start, there is his name: Ulf derives from the Old Norse word for wolf and Varg means wolf in modern Swedish. But his character is far from vulpine: Ulf is a sympathetic, well-educated, and likeable man, with a knowledge of and interest in Nordic art. He has a dog called Marten, the only dog in Sweden who is capable of lip-reading (but only in Swedish). Martin becomes depressed and needs treatment. Dogs in Sweden are, apparently, particularly prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder. But this is summer - and there must be something else going on.Ulf has a number of colleagues into whose lives we gain an insight. There is Anna, married to an anaesthetist, but very fond of Ulf; there is Erik, whose sole interest is fishing; Carl, whose father has written a book on the Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard; and there is poor Blomquist, from the uniformed branch, who goes on and on about health issues but who seems to have extraordinary luck in investigations. There is also Ulf's psychotherapist, Dr Svensson, whose observations on Ulf's life - and many other topics - enlightens - or possibly confuses.Mister Varg introduces us to the world of this typically Scandinavian character and his friends

Clover has loved James for as long as she can remember, since before she knew what what love was. But fate seems determined to keep them apart. As children, Clover and James played beside a turquoise sea under cloudless skies, their Caribbean island home a place of pleasure and privilege, of lush lawns and tennis parties. In such a paradise nothing should obstruct the kind of happiness Clover dreams of, except that, as she discovers, true love is often harder than paradise allows for. And when Clover's mother falls out of love with her husband, a web of complications is woven that may take Clover a lifetime to unravel. If she ever can ...Tender and true, The Forever Girl traces love's unpredictable path to maturity with style, wit and feeling.

A return to 44 Scotland Street . . .