Risultati di "Alexander McCall Smith" in Tutte le categorie

Even down to its well-set Georgian townhouses, Edinburgh is a hymn to measure and harmony. But on Scotland Street, domestic accord is in short supply. Matthew and Elspeth welcome three new arrivals, though the joys of multiple parenthood are somewhat lost due to sleep deprivation and the difficulties of telling their brood apart. Angus and Domenica are to marry, and Domenica has ambitious and disturbing plans for their living arrangements, especially when it appears that Antonia, in Italy recuperating from Stendhal Syndrome, may not return.

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have always relied on the advice of the classic guide to their trade, The Principles of Private Detection. But who is the eminent author, Mr Clovis Andersen, and what if he was to come to Botswana? That seems a very unlikely possibility, and yet… When Mr Andersen visits Botswana on holiday, he is delighted and intrigued to stumble across a roadside sign that reveals the existence of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

As Botswana awaits the familiar blessing of the rains and their eternal cycle, upheaval is taking place at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Not only is Mr J. L. B. Matekoni attempting to reform himself into a modern husband but, following her marriage to Phuti Radiphuti, Mma Makutsi has joyful news.With the arrival of an heir to the Double Comfort furniture empire and Mma Makutsi busy with motherhood, cobras and a senior aunt, Mma Ramotswe must grapple alone with tea-making, detective work and a new uncertainty.

To the casual observer, the great enlightened city of Edinburgh, home of no-nonsense sermons 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. Soon enough Irene Pollock is shocked to learn that her small son Bertie harbours a highly unsuitable ambition; and Angus finds himself facing a large Glaswegian gangster.

Precious Ramotswe, traditionally-built proprietor of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, contemplates the two sorts of problems that we all face in life: the major ones (such as drought), about which very little can be done, and the other sort which people make for themselves through human weakness and an inability to resist temptation. Like the inability to resist cake, for instance.

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.

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.

As the countdown to Mma Makutsi’s wedding begins, all is not as it should be at the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. While investigating unpleasant occurrences on a southern cattle-post, Mma Ramotswe, always on the side of the weak against the strong, has reason to reflect on Rule No.3 of The Principles of Private Detection: never lie to the client. Apprentice mechanic Charlie seems to be avoiding certain important responsibilities.

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.

Wayward daughters. Missing husbands. Philandering partners. Curious con men. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Mma Ramotswe, Botswana's only female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, and her manner not exactly Miss Marple's, but she's got warmth, wit, and canny intuition on her side - not to mention Mr J.L.B. Maketoni, the charming proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors.

With his characteristic warmth, inventiveness and brilliant wit, Alexander McCall Smith gives us more of the gloriously entertaining comings and goings at 44 Scotland Street, the Edinburgh townhouse. Six-year-old prodigy Bertie perseveres in his heroic struggle for truth and balanced good sense against his insufferable mother and her crony, the psychotherapist Dr Fairbairn, going as far as to make a short-lived bid for freedom on a trip to Paris with the Edinburgh youth orchestra.

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.

In Espresso Tales, Alexander McCall Smith returns home to Edinburgh and the glorious cast of his own tales of the city, the residents of 44 Scotland Street, with a new set of challenges for each one of them. Bruce, the intolerably vain and perpetually deluded ex-surveyor, is about to embark on a new career as a wine merchant, while his long-suffering flatmate Pat MacGregor, set up by matchmaking Domenica Macdonald, finds herself invited to a nudist picnic in Moray Place in the pursuit of true love.

Precious has been lucky enough to go and visit her Aunt Bee at a safari camp. At the camp there is great excitement as a film crew are there filming a movie with a tame lion called Teddy. Teddy the lion goes missing, however, and of course Precious soon finds herself helping the adults in trying to find him again.

A full-cast BBC Radio Scotland comedy dramatisation written by Alexander McCall Smith. An Edinburgh couple on holiday in the Highlands discover that centuries-old tensions are still very near the surface. Starring John Buick, Kenny Blyth, Monica Gibb and Paul Young...

From the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency comes a medley of perverse couplings, casual dates and romantic encounters: hilarious tales that will sadden, inspire, and surprise. McCall Smith, a master of the unexpected and a seamless storyteller, revels in offering us the quirky complications inherent in the entanglements that human beings engineer for themselves - entanglements that can be shocking, unedifying, complex, and sometimes completely disastrous.

Isabel's niece Cat is still worshipped by the young musician, Jamie, but Cat has a new and unsuitable love-interest. Meanwhile Isabel's Texan cousins have arrived in Edinburgh and are provoking a quite separate set of dilemmas. In between these events and complications, Edinburgh life continues, calmly sailed through by Isabel, her housekeeper, Grace, and, of course, that cautious resident of Isabel's garden, brother Fox. His alone is the uncomplicated existence.

Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is also drawn into the work of the agency when he investigates a case involving an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters with as much skill as one of the ladies? Mma Ramotswe has her doubts. One thing, though, that she does not doubt is the good nature of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world.

In this second novel in the Sunday Philosophy Club, Isabel Dalhousie's niece, Cat (she of the unsuitable boyfriends) is invited to a wedding in Italy. This means that Isabel is left in charge of Cat's delicatessen: a task to which the redoutable moral philosopher proves more than equal. She is intrigued by the customers, of course, given her irrepressible tendency to take an interest in the business of others, and one man in particular attracts her attention.

Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher who uses her training to solve unusual mysteries. She edits the Review of Applied Ethics, addressing such questions as "Truth telling in sexual relationships", and she also hosts The Sunday Philosophy Club at her house in Edinburgh. Behind the city's Georgian facades, its moral compasses are spinning with greed, dishonesty, and murderous intent.