Showing results by author "Alexander McCall Smith" in All Categories

The Perfect Passion Dating Company at No. 24 Mouse Lane in Edinburgh's New Town is run by Katie Donald who has an innate instinct for bringing people together. She has developed a skill for finding out what it is that people really want. Along the way, Katie learns profound lessons about her own desires as she works at better understanding others. Although Katie has little in the way of direct experience, with the help of her amiable and handsome office neighbour William Kidd, she soon finds herself making matches for the lonely hearts tired of meeting online.

It has never occurred to Precious Ramotswe, as she discusses over cups of bush tea with her associate Mma Makutsi such important matters as the afterlife and the purchase of a fine new bed with a heart-shaped headboard, that there may be disadvantages to being the best-known lady detective in Botswana.

Jenny is very tall for her age, and when she dresses smartly for her first day at a new school, she looks very grown up indeed. So grown up, in fact, that when she arrives at the school, she is mistaken for a new teacher and left in charge of a classroom of kids! Jenny is forced to keep up the act and soon finds herself in all sorts of tricky situations. Whatever happens, it's going to be a real education!

Mysteries of love, romance and truth-telling lie at the heart of Isabel Dalhousie's concerns in Alexander McCall Smith's new Sunday Philosopher's Club novel. Isabel's niece Cat is still worshipped by the young musician, Jamie, but Cat has a new and unsuitable love-interest. Meanwhile Isabel's...

There's a new case for the Perfect Passion Company. After a serendipitous meeting in a supermarket, Clea meets the man of her dreams. But having left suddenly without his phone number, she can't stop thinking about what might have been. Can apprentice matchmaker Katie, with the help of her enigmatic neighbour William, help orchestrate the forces of Kismet and choreograph another happy union?

Despite inhabiting a great city renowned for its impeccable restraint, the extended family of 44 Scotland Street is trembling on the brink of reckless self-indulgence. Matthew and Elspeth receive startling – and expensive – news on a visit to the Infirmary, Angus and Domenica are contemplating an Italian ménage a trois, and even Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery.

Life is never dull for Botswana's premier lady detective, Precious Ramotswe. As a particularly delicate situation is brought to her attention, she must, with the help of her loyal associate Grace Matsuki, set out to investigate the peculiar circumstances surrounding the case. Over the course of their inquiries, unexpected information continues coming to light, leaving the pair puzzled. Eventually, Mma Ramotswe will realise that the truth, as ever, is more complicated than it first seems.

When Max finds an old car that has his last name - Champion - on the bonnet, he learns that his grandfather used to make some of the best cars around...and race them! That was until his ideas book and his favourite car, Arabella, were stolen by greedy rival Mr Grabber. Can Max find a way to get back what Grandfather Gus lost? And will Arabella ever be seen again?

Alexander McCall Smith returns once again to his favourite fictitious house, set in a real street in Edinburgh. First published in 110 episodes in The Scotsman newspaper, this is vintage McCall Smith, tackling issues of trust and honesty, snobbery and hypocrisy, love and loss, but all with great lightness of touch.

Follow the exploits of the children who go to a most unusual school - the sail-powered training ship Tobermory. When a film crew arrives in Tobermory Bay, Ben and Fee are invited to be extras. But their suspicions are soon aroused - is the film crew genuine, or are they up to something sinister?...

This is a story of incredible acrobatics and death-defying stunts! Join Freddie Mole as he tumbles through the air, flies around the big tent and tames four growling lions! Freddie is an ordinary boy who joins the circus one day. He can't believe his luck as he is asked to understudy some of the acts. But is he brave enough to go into the lions' cage?

John and Nicky have never eaten spaghetti and would give anything for the occasional bowl of chips or piece of chocolate cake. But they live with their rather strange aunt, who insists upon health-food diets. When they use some birthday money to go out for lunch, they experience the delights of spaghetti and decide that they simply have to have more. A competition offers them just such an opportunity, which results in their mealtimes changing for good.

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.

The inhabitants of the Popcorn Islands lead a peaceful and comfortable existence - that is until pirates attack Captain Foster's ship on its way to America and steal half the popcorn harvest. So Lucy, Hermione and Sam offer to accompany the captain and his dog, Biscuit, on the next trip to keep a lookout for danger. But danger is exactly what they run into! Now the pirates aren't just after more popcorn...they want new recruits, too!

The latest instalment of the beloved and best-selling series - as endearing and delectable as ever! Business is slow at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, so at Mma Makutsi’s suggestion, Mma Ramotswe is persuaded to take her first-ever holiday. But just as she’s about to depart, a new client arrives: a young woman whose father was considered a hero in Botswana but whose reputation is now being called into question.

Isabel Dalhousie - philosopher, mother and friend - is taking on the mammoth task of hosting her school reunion. In the hours before 25 former classmates descend on her home and the caterers arrive to set up a buffet, Isabel has time to reflect. She is mindful of the fact that reunions can bring up all sorts of uncomfortable feelings. Later that night, with the party in full swing, Isabel realises that the pull of the past remains as strong as ever.

The gum that comes from the wonderful bubblegum trees that grow in the Indian jungle has not been delivered for two months. Without this secret ingredient, there'll be no more Gopal's Best Pink Bubblegum, and even more importantly, no more Bubblegummies - the people who live in the trees and harvest the gum. It's not an easy mystery to solve - and soon the friends are involved in a bungee-jumping, tiger-trouncing, woodcutter-walloping, bubblegum-blowing adventure!

For philosophically-minded Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, getting through life with a clear conscience requires careful thought. And whilst juggling the arrival of baby Charlie, a passionate relationship with his father Jamie, a truce with her furious niece Cat, and...

Max and Maddy Twist's parents were once famous, international detectives - before the evil Professor Sardine ruined their careers, that is. Now they run an ice-cream parlour, and it is the services of their crime-busting Cluedo-champion children that are called upon! Mr Huffendort, a rich Swiss...

The Department of Sensitive Crimes is downsizing in light of a recent downturn of sensitive crime, and staff members are wondering who among them will be transferred elsewhere. As the bickering between colleagues intensifies, Ulf tries his best to stay above the fray. But when Anna, a long-time friend and co-worker, appears to blame him for an old case that went sideways, it seems she may be putting her own job prospects above their friendship. In the midst of all this, Ulf embarks on an important inquiry.