Edited by Don George and Samantha Forge. Lonely Planet, $15.99 trade paper (318p) ISBN 978-1-74360-360-4
From Cold War Yugoslavia to modern-day Yemen, Lonely Planet’s latest collection of nonfiction travel stories doesn’t leave a stone or continent unturned. Readers will relish Simon Winchester’s boyhood tale of a near-death experience in the Arctic...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $26 (256p) ISBN 978-1-1018-7125-6
Smith once again exhibits his versatility with this vibrant and delightful collection of short stories all centering on the themes of love and happenstance. Preceding each story is a vintage photograph that Smith found while doing research for a...
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Alexander McCall Smith, illus. by Iain McIntosh. Random/Anchor, $12.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-307-74389-3
This lovely, warmhearted novel reveals how Precious Ramotswe, the star of Smith’s the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series for adults, launched her sleuthing career. Curious and observant, Precious, “one of the nicest girls in Botswana,” is a...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-90723-3
Short on plot but teeming with charm, this confection takes its cue from Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. For the third time, Smith (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) visits the self-contained fictional world encompassing the residents of...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-37918-4
You needn’t be a series-long admirer of Isabel Dalhousie to be beguiled by this curious philosopher and casual sleuth. In this eighth installment—with the ruminating Edinburgh heroine steeped in devoted motherhood, impending marriage, and office and
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-307-37973-3
Smith's diverting second Corduroy Mansions novel (after Corduroy Mansions) focuses mainly on the misadventures of London wine merchant William French. When Angelica Brockelbank, an attractive acquaintance of William's he hasn't seen in years,...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Pantheon, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-307-037839-2
Smith again makes the sublime look easy in his winning 12th No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novel set in present-day Botswana (after 2010's The Double Comfort Safari Club). As usual, the mystery that the agency's proprietor, Mma Ramotswe, must resolve—
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author Polygon $12.95 (202p) ISBN 978-0-7486-6273-9
Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) offers the second and third installments of his dignified, humorous Botswanan series. In Tears of the Giraffe, PI Precious Ramotswe tracks a missing American man whose widowed mother ...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Pantheon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-37917-7
While Smith’s seventh novel featuring Scottish philosopher and woman of means Isabel Dalhousie (after The Lost Art of Gratitude) doesn’t break new ground, the author’s many fans will be more than satisfied to follow the small events of Isabel’s life,
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Alexander McCall Smith, Pantheon, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-307-37908-5
Set in present-day London, Smith's charming first in a new series offers a variation on his 44 Scotland Street books, centering on the eccentric occupants of Corduroy Mansions and their offbeat doings. William French, a wine merchant, hopes to force
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Anchor $12 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4000-3134-4
The African-born author of more than 50 books, from children's stories (The Perfect Hamburger) to scholarly works (Forensic Aspects of Sleep), turns his talents to detection in this artful, pleasing novel about Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe,...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (316p) ISBN 978-0-307-90825-4
Smith (Trains and Lovers) sets his latest novel in Grand Cayman's community of wealthy expatriates. Amanda raises two children, Clover and Billy, while her husband David shows "[interest] in figures and money and not much else." Though tempted to...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4822-7
Ulf Varg, the lead detective in this appealing series launch from Smith (the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series), works for the Sensitive Crimes Department of the Malmö, Sweden, Criminal Investigation Authority. He and his colleagues, including...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-101-87135-5
“Forgiveness is often the solution,” observes Precious Ramotswe toward the end of Smith’s warmhearted, humane 17th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2015’s The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine). Mma Ramotswe is referring to the book’s main...
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Alexander McCall Smith, illus. by Iain McIntosh. Delacorte, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-399-55261-8
A schooner that serves as a boarding school is the inviting setting for this breezy series opener from bestselling author Smith. Twelve-year-old twins Ben and Fee MacTavish, who board the Tobermory on the Scottish Isle of Mull, have spent ample time
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-91156-8
Precious Ramotswe goes on vacation in Smith’s enchanting 16th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2014’s The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café). Her second in command, the prickly Grace Makutsi, is glad to take charge in her absence. Mma Ramotswe,
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-90735-6
No writer makes the philosophical life as inviting and cozy as Smith does in his episodic novels featuring Isabel Dalhousie. In her native Edinburgh, Isabel fills many roles: editor of The Review of Applied Ethics, mother of Charlie, partner of...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-91154-4
As usual, the problems that Precious Ramotswe tackles in Smith enjoyable 15th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2013’s The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon) are more the province of a therapist/counselor than of a cop. Mma Ramotswe’s longtime
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-37840-8
Smith wisely doesn’t tamper with his winning recipe for literary comfort food in his 13th excursion to Gaborone, Botswana, in the company of bighearted PI Precious Ramotswe (after 2011’s The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party). An unknown tall man...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor, $15 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-94849-6
Bestseller Smith's seventh 44 Scotland Street novel (after 2012's The Importance of Being Seven) provides another genial, witty glimpse into the life and times of the denizens of an Edinburgh neighborhood. Seven-year-old Bertie Pollock gets top...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-30737-841-5
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency could be about to lose its #2 investigator in Smith’s endearing 14th installment of the bestselling Botswana-set series (after 2012’s The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection). One hardly needs the renowned...
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Alexander McCall Smith . Anchor, $16.95 (203p) ISBN 978-0-307-27989-7
Prolific serial novelist Smith (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) gently pokes fun at academia and its professoriate with this slapstick-y, deadpan-lite fourth installment of the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. The socially inept Professor Dr....
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-307-90733-2
In Smith's delightful ninth novel featuring Isabel Dalhousie (after 2011's The Forgotten Affairs of Youth), Isabel, "somebody who sorts out people's difficulties" when she's not editing the Review of Applied Ethics, assists a wealthy Scottish...
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Alexander McCall Smith, illus. by Iain McIntosh. Anchor, $15 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-73936-0
With the arrival of the sixth novel (after Bertie Plays the Blues) in his 44 Scotland Street series, McCall Smith again shows his mastery of light comedy. The residents of 44 Scotland Street are quickly introduced: art dealer Matthew and his new...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Anchor $13.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-307-27597-4
Once again McCall Smith fixes his telescope on the windows of 44 Scotland Street, the converted Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh that provided the title for his previous novel and initiated this latest series. This time out, perhaps Bertie, the...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author , read by Davina Porter. Recorded Books $29.99 (
, unabridged, seven CDs, 7.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4361-4136-9
, unabridged, seven CDs, 7.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4361-4136-9
In narrating the fifth installment of this series, Davina Porter has so become the voice of the charmingly ethical Isabel Dalhousie that it is hard to imagine anyone else ever taking her place. The new novel gives Porter an opportunity to fill out...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $22.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-375-42513-4
In Smith's winning fifth novel to feature Edinburgh philosophical sleuth Isabel Dalhousie (after The Careful Use of Compliments
), Dalhousie, who's recently assumed ownership of the obscure journal she's edited for many years, the...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $21.95 (214p) ISBN 978-0-375-42448-9
Precious Ramotswe, “Botswana's foremost solver of problems,” is used to handling mostly straightforward domestic cases, which makes a series of anonymous letters threatening her and her prickly assistant, Grace Makutsi, all the more
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $21.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-375-42301-7
Best known for the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, bestseller Smith shows he's just as adept at exploring mysteries of the heart in his fourth book to feature Edinburgh philosopher-sleuth Isabel Dalhousie (after The Right Attitude to...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author , illus. by Macky Pamintuan. Bloomsbury $9.95 (80p) ISBN 978-1-59990-036-0
In this comically convoluted caper, one of two launch titles in the paper-over-board Max & Maddy series, Smith (the bestselling adult mystery writer and also author of the Harriet Bean series) introduces a pair of young sleuths whose famous...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $21.95 (213p) ISBN 978-0-375-42273-7
Smith once again combines a loving depiction of ordinary life in modern Botswana with memorable characters and an engaging mystery in the eighth installment in his beloved No. 1 Ladies Detective series (after Blue Shoes and Happiness
). Dr. Cronje,...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $21.95 (276p) ISBN 978-0-375-42300-0
The third novel featuring well-to-do and somewhat-nosy philosopher Isabel Dalhousie continues McCall Smith's exploration of the rights and wrongs of everyday life, with Isabel's thoughtful presence providing decidedly more intellectual punch
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Canongate $18 (173p) ISBN 978-1-84195-823-1
The bestselling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels and the 44 Scotland Street novels has always included one-offs and detours in his oeuvre (including The Criminal Law of Botswana
). Here, he turns in an elegant contemporary...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $21.95 (261p) ISBN 978-0-375-42299-7
The second installment of McCall Smith's Sunday Philosophy Club series sports a charmingly meandering plot and winningly hyperverbal characters—no surprise to fans of Isabel Dalhousie's debut, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books,...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $19.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-375-42271-3
In this sixth entry in McCall Smith's consistently delightful series, Botswana detective Precious Ramotswe, the traditionally built—and newly married—owner of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is saddled with a surfeit of...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $20 (208p) ISBN 978-0-375-42312-3
Straying from the safety net of a bestselling series (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
, etc.), Smith tells 40 traditional African folk tales with his by now signature humor, simplicity and reverence for African culture. With an introductory letter
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $19.95 (247p) ISBN 978-0-375-42298-0
Murder and moral obligation mingle in this whimsical new series from the author of the smash hit The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
. McCall Smith's new heroine is Scottish-American philosopher Isabel Dalhousie, a single woman of independent...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $19.95 (198p) ISBN 978-0-375-42218-8
Precious Ramotswe is on the case again in this delightful fifth installment in the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, this time assisting the self-made founder of a chain of hairdressing salons who wants to unearth the real...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Canongate $21 (208p) ISBN 978-1-84195-466-0
Smith, author of the bestselling The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and some 50 other books, nimbly examines the mysteries of dating in this captivating collection. The stories, which take place in various locales—Africa, Australia, Italy&
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $19.95 (186p) ISBN 978-0-375-42217-1
The fourth appearance of Precious Ramotswe, protagonist of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
and two sequels, is once again a charming account of the everyday challenges facing a female private detective in Botswana. In his usual unassuming...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $23.95 (212p) ISBN 978-0-375-42449-6
Once again, Precious Ramotswe uses her insights into human nature to unravel problems big and small in Smith's charming 10th novel to feature Botswana's No. 1 lady detective (after The Miracle at Speedy Motors
). Leungo Molofololo, the...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author Pantheon $21.95 (227p) ISBN 978-0-375-42272-0
The seventh entry in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series (after 2005's In the Company of Cheerful Ladies) reaffirms Smith's considerable gifts as a writer. His familiar characters offer further facets of their personalities, and their gentle,...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author , read by Robert Ian Mackenzie. Recorded Books $39.99 (
, unabridged, 12 CDs, 14 hrs., $39.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4407-8825-3
, unabridged, 12 CDs, 14 hrs., $39.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4407-8825-3
The fifth book in McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series re-visits the quirky characters of a tiny neighborhood of Edinburgh: aging Angus and his dog, young Matthew with his new bride, precocious six-year-old Bertie and his overbearing mother,
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $23.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-375-42450-2
As in 2009’s Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
, the previous entry in this beguiling, bestselling series, a personal crisis for one of the leads, rather than a mystery, drives the plot of Smith’s superb 12th novel set in Botswana...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Anchor $15 (344p) ISBN 978-0-307-45470-6
Fans of bestseller Smith’s two mystery series set in Botswana and Edinburgh will find the same understanding, affectionate look at human frailties and foibles in this sunny series about the adventures and misadventures of a precocious six-year-
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $23.95 (294p) ISBN 978-0-307-37838-5
Set mainly during WWII in England, this quiet story about a woman who makes a new life for herself falls short of bestseller Smith's best work. After La Stone's husband leaves her for another woman in France, La retreats to a small cottage
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author . Pantheon $23.95 (262p) ISBN 978-0-375-42514-1
Smith's quietly triumphant sixth novel to feature Scottish philosopher Isabel Dalhousie (after 2008's The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
) shows that Isabel and the author's other, better-known female sleuth—Precious Ramotswe of...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author , read by Robert Ian MacKenzie. Recorded Books $34.99 (
, unabridged, 11 CDs, 14 hrs., $34.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4361-4131-4
, unabridged, 11 CDs, 14 hrs., $34.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4361-4131-4
In this latest installment of McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series, Robert Ian Mackenzie portrays Bertie as the overly intelligent and articulate six-year-old that he is meant to be, but when Bertie is among his classmates Tofu, Hiawatha,...
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Book Wish Foundation. Putnam, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-399-25454-3
Short stories that revolve around wishes form this volume created to raise money for Book Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to build libraries for Darfur refugees living in Chad. Mixing poems, stories, and even a comic, the book...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, LeUyen Pham, Illustrator , illus. by LeUyen Pham. Bloomsbury $9.95 (68p) ISBN 978-1-58234-686-1
This fast-paced tale launches Smith's (the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mysteries) paper-over-board series starring Akimbo, who lives on the edge of an African game reserve. The lad is horrified when he and his ranger father come across a...
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Davina Porter, Recorded Books, seven CDs, 8.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN 978-1-4498-4276-5
Isabel, moral philosopher and amateur detective, living in McCall Smith’s Edenic Edinburgh, has plenty of time between investigations to ponder the pettiness of her neighbors and engage in self-introspection. The case demanding her expertise...
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Davina Porter. Recorded Books, unabridged, library edition, seven CDs, 8.25 hrs., $67.75 ISBN 978-1-4498-2526-3
In this latest installment of McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series, when an Australian philosopher named Jane Cooper comes to Edinburgh, she asks Isabel to trace her family history. Jane knows almost nothing of the woman who gave her up for...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Lisette Lecat, Narrated by , read by Lisette Lecat. Recorded Books $29.99 (0p) ISBN 978-1-4281-2548-3
Lisette Lecat doesn’t simply portray the characters in McCall Smith’s series about Botswana’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and the Speedy Motors car repair service that improbably share a building in the nation’s...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Iain McIntosh, Illustrator . Anchor $13.95 (357p) ISBN 978-0-307-27598-1
The irresistible third entry to the 44 Scotland Street series picks up with the residents of 44 Scotland Street where Espresso Tales
left off and is as addictive as any book McCall Smith has written. Anthropologist Domenica has flown off to the...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Iain McIntosh, Illustrator . Anchor $13.95 (343p) ISBN 978-0-307-38706-6
Smith delivers yet another delightful installment to his Scotland Street series. This time out, he focuses mostly on the irrepressible Bertie Pollock, a precocious six-year-old whose mummy, Irene, forces him to play a saxophone, converse in Italian,
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Iain McIntosh, Illustrator . Anchor $13.95 (325p) ISBN 978-1-4000-7944-5
Like Smith's bestselling Botswana mysteries, this book—comprising 110 sections, originally serialized in the Scotsman
, that drolly chronicle the lives of residents in an Edinburgh boarding house—is episodic, amusing and peopled with
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Macky Pamintuan, Illustrator Knopf Canada $0 (80p) ISBN 978-0-676-97774-5
In this comically convoluted caper, one of two launch titles in the paper-over-board Max & Maddy series, Smith (the bestselling adult mystery writer and also author of the Harriet Bean series) introduces a pair of young sleuths whose famous...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Robert Ian MacKenzie, Narrated by , read by Robert Ian Mackenzie. Recorded Books $34.99 (0p) ISBN 978-1-4193-9614-4
McCall Smith is such a prolific author that he needs at least three readers to keep up with him. The series that transpire in Scotland have two performers. Davina Porter narrates the Sunday Philosophy Club series while Mackenzie performs the series...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Laura Rankin, Illustrator , illus. by Laura Rankin. Bloomsbury $9.95 (117p) ISBN 978-1-58234-975-6
This paper-over-board caper, the first in a series by adult mystery writer Smith, combines humor and intrigue as it introduces a plucky aspiring sleuth. Nine-year-old Harriet Bean learns that her absent-minded father, an inventor of "useless"
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Michael Page, Read by Brilliance Corporation $19.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-4233-2100-2
Angus is a god of dreams and love, and the Celtic mythology spun around his life and acts is cherished in both Ireland and Scotland. Clearly aware of the ramifications of taking sides, Page delivers his narration in a studiously neutral British...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Lisette Lecat, Read by , read by Lisette Lecat. Recorded Books $29.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-4193-7536-1
It was a shrewd idea to get the veteran actress and audiobook prize winner Lecat to perform this version of Smith's latest mystery starring the unforgettable Botswana detective Precious Ramotswe. Lecat is a native South African who grew up...
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Lisette Lecat, Recorded Books, eight CDs, 8.5 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4498-0613-2
Fans of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mysteries will be delighted with this latest installment—the 12th in the series. With her usual aplomb, Precious Ramotswe sorts out the inheritance bequest from a grateful American tourist, attempts to...
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Adjoa Andoh. Listening Library, unabridged, one CD, 1 hr., $15 ISBN 978-0-449-01140-9
For anyone who has ever wondered about the childhood of the owner of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, McCall Smith’s answer is that Precious Ramotswe was a born detective with a knack for knowing when people are making things up. Even as a child,
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, Davina Porter, Narrated by , read by Davina Porter. Recorded Books $29.99 (0p) ISBN 978-1-4281-5527-5
Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series is a love letter for Botswana that has apparently enhanced tourism; in this novel, he tries to do the same for Edinburgh and the Hebrides isle of Jura. Porter does such a stunning job of bringing...
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Alexander McCall Smith, Author, R. A. McCall Smith, Author Polygon $12.95 (202p) ISBN 978-0-7486-6297-5
In Morality for Beautiful Girls, Ramotswe tangles with a feral child, the finalists in a beauty pageant and a suspicious cook.
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Simon Prebble. Recorded Books, unabridged, nine CDs, 10 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4618-3440-3
Simon Prebble delivers a brilliant performance in this audio version of McCall Smith’s second installment in the Corduroy Mansions series. This time around, wine merchant William French lends his heroic terrier, Freddie de la Hay, to MI6 to help...
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Alexander McCall Smith, read by Lisette Lecat. Recorded Books, unabridged, seven CDs, 8.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN 978-1-4561-2367-3
It's a busy time for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency as assistant detective Grace Makutsi is about to get married and must locate a pair of shoes that literally speak to her. Meanwhile, Precious Ramotswe has taken on a troubling case involving...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-101-87137-9
The case of Charity Mompoloki, who claims she was fired unjustly from her job at an office supply company in Gaborone, Botswana, preoccupies Precious Ramotswe and her ambitious assistant, Grace Makutsi, who now styles herself principal investigating
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Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor, $15.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-525-43655-3
Smith’s spirited 12th 44 Scotland Street novel (after 2017’s The Bertie Project) sees the residents of Edinburgh’s Scotland Street and their associates grapple with domestic problems great and small. Anthropologist Domenica Macdonald wonders about...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4780-0
Mwa Ramotswe considers entering politics in Smith’s excellent 19th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2017’s The House of Unexpected Sisters). She’s not at all sure she’s qualified, but her friend Mwa Potokwame, who heads the local orphan...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4782-4
Smith’s winning 20th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2018’s The Colors of All the Cattle) opens at a wedding, where Mma Ramotse, “doyenne of private investigators in Botswana (not that there were any others apart from her assistant,...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor, $15.95 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-9848-9781-7
In Smith’s meandering 13th 44 Scotland Street novel (after 2017’s A Time of Love and Tartan), the latest personal developments among the residents of the Edinburgh street will strike many as ho-hum: a child’s acquisition of a pet dog, a battle with...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4896-8
Smith’s disappointing sequel to 2019’s The Department of Sensitive Crimes has its memorable and moving moments, but not enough of them. Det. Ulf Varg and the other members of Sweden’s Department of Sensitive Crimes handle cases with political or...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $25.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-5933-1575-0
Smith (the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series) returns with a placid collection inspired by photographs from the London Sunday Times archive. The photos appear alongside each story, their subjects generally imagined to possess lonely souls. In...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4936-1
In Smith’s leisurely 21st No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2019’s To the Land of Long Lost Friends), Blessing Mompati, a distant cousin of Precious Ramotse, the agency’s head, needs money to pay for a hip replacement for her friend Tefo...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $27 (256p) ISBN 978-0-5933-1610-8
In Smith’s delightful third mystery featuring Malmö, Sweden, police detective Ulf Varg (after 2020’s The Talented Mr. Varg), art historian Anders Kindgren has been plagued for months by a series of “nasty little events,” starting with someone...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $27 (240p) ISBN 978-0-593-31573-6
Early in Smith’s diverting 22nd No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2020’s How to Raise an Elephant), Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, owner of Tlokweng Speedy Motors, attends a business seminar at a Gaborone hotel, where he reconnects with entrepreneur
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $28 (240p) ISBN 978-0-593-70083-9
A crime ripped from the mind of Mother Goose animates McCall’s witty fourth outing for Swedish police detective Ulf Varg (after 2021’s The Man in the Silver Saab). Fridolf Bengtsson, owner of Sweden’s largest bacon-processing business, arrives at...
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Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $28 (256p) ISBN 978-0-593-70176-8
Smith’s breezy latest outing for Botswanan sleuths Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi (after From a Far and Lovely Country) finds the pair digging into the operations of a struggling hotel. While Mma Ramotswe is shopping for socks one afternoon, a...
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