Alexander McCall Smith

Precious Ramotswe, owner of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, finds herself beset with problems with a strange intruder in her house, the mysterious appearance of a pumpkin, the desertion of one of her husband's apprentices, and a visitor bearing secrets from the past.

First a cobra appears in Precious Ramotswe's office; then a nurse from the medical clinic reveals to Mma Ramotswe about faulty blood pressure readings being recorded there. Later, it looks as though Annty Emang, the advice columnist in the local newspaper, may not be what she seems.

Isabel takes her eighteen-month-old son Charlie to a birthday party where she encounters her old adversary Minty Auchterlonie, who seems to want to make Isabel her confidante, but there are still those troubling questions about Minty's integrity; and Isabel faces other dilemmas with Professor Dove, her niece Cat, and Charlie's loving, marriage-minded father.

In contemporary Botswana, sleuth Precious Ramotswe decides to go against tradition and start her own business--a detective agency. Soon she is in the thick of several perplexing cases.

Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance Philology, engaged in a never-ending quest to win the respect he feels is due, gets a boost when he returns from sabbatical to find his masterwork has been checked out of the Institute's library.

The residents of 44 Scotland Street coexist despite the return of Bruce much to the chagrin of Pat the impoundment of Cyril Angus Lordie's dog baby Ulysses the newest addition to Bertie's family and more.

The more than 30 stories in this wonderful anthology have a uniquely African flair, but still manage to tap into ideas--love, jealousy, ambition--that are universally human.