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The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

Part of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series

Author Alexander McCall Smith
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$16.00 US
Knopf | Anchor
On sale Mar 05, 2013 | 288 Pages | 978-0-307-47299-1
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  • English > Comparative Literature: African > African Literature
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African Literature and Drama
  • About
  • Excerpt
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Alexander McCall Smith’s beloved, bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series continues as Botswana’s best and kindest detective finds her personal and professional lives have become entangled.

Precious Ramotswe is very busy these days. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. Most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, the orphan farm’s respected matron, has been dismissed from her post. Mma Ramotswe is not about to rest when her friends are mistreated. Help arrives from an unexpected visitor. He is none other than the estimable Mr. Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Detection, the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their colleague help right injustices that occur even in their beloved Botswana, and in the process discover something new about being a good detective.

“In Mma Ramotswe, [McCall Smith] minted one of the most memorable heroines in any modern fiction.” —Newsweek

“Enthralling. . . . Mma Ramotswe is someone readers can’t help but love.” —USA Today

“If you’ve never read a No. 1 Ladies’, now’s the time. . . . The brilliance of this series … is that what may seem like tiny cases expand into considerations of virtue, love, ambition, greed, and evil.” —Booklist (starred review)

“An oasis. . . . Full of wit, nuance, and caring.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Smart and sassy . . . [with] the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once.” —Los Angeles Times

“There is no end to the pleasure that may be extracted from these books.” —The New York Times Book Review

“These gentle stories of manners and morality have a clarity that . . . seems far harder to discern in our own rushed, deadline-driven lives.” —The Scotsman

“Endearing, amusing. . . . Sparkles with African sunshine and wit.” —Dallas Morning News

“The best, most charming, honest, hilarious, and life-affirming books to appear in years.” —The Plain Dealer
In Botswana, home to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for the problems of ladies, and others, it is customary—one might say very customary—to enquire of the people whom you meet whether they have slept well. The answer to that question is almost inevitably that they have indeed slept well, even if they have not, and have spent the night tossing and turning as a result of the nocturnal barking of dogs, the activity of mosquitoes or the prickings of a bad conscience. Of course, mosquitoes may be defeated by nets or sprays, just as dogs may be roundly scolded; a bad conscience, though, is not so easily stifled. If somebody were to invent a spray capable of dealing with an uncomfortable conscience, that person would undoubtedly do rather well—but perhaps might not sleep as soundly as before, were he to reflect on the consequences of his invention. Bad consciences, it would appear, are there for a purpose: to make us feel regret over our failings. Should they be silenced, then our entirely human weaknesses, our manifold omissions, would become all the greater—and that, as Mma Ramotswe would certainly say, is not a good thing.
 
Mma Ramotswe was fortunate in having an untroubled con-science, and therefore generally enjoyed undisturbed sleep. It was her habit to take to her bed after a final cup of red bush tea at around ten o’clock at night. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, her husband and by common consent the finest mechanic in all Botswana, would often retire before her, particularly if he had had a tiring day at work. Mechanics in general sleep well, as do many others whose day is taken up with physically demanding labour. So by the time that Mma Ramotswe went to bed, he might already be lost to this world, his breathing deep and regular, his eyes firmly closed to the bedside light that he would leave for his wife to extinguish.
 
She would not take long to go to sleep, drifting off to thoughts of what had happened that day; to images of herself drinking tea in the office or driving her van on an errand; to the picture of Mma Makutsi sitting upright at her desk, her large glasses catching the light as she held forth on some issue or other. Or to some memory of a long time ago, of her father walking down a dusty road, holding her hand and explaining to her about the ways of cattle—a subject that he knew so well. When a wise man dies, there is so much history that is lost: that is what they said, and Mma Ramotswe knew it to be true. Her own father, the late Obed Ramotswe, had taken so much with him, but had also left much behind, so many memories and sayings and observations, that she, his daughter, could now call up and cherish as she waited for the soft arms of sleep to embrace her.
 
Mma Ramotswe did not remember her dreams for very long once she had woken up. Occasionally, though, an egregiously vivid dream might make such an impression that it lodged in her memory, and that is what happened that morning. It was not in any way a bad dream; nor was it a particularly good dream, the sort of dream that makes one feel as if one has been vouchsafed some great mystical insight; it was, rather, one of those dreams that seems to be a clear warning that something special is about to happen. If a dream involves lottery tickets and numbers, then its meaning is clear enough. This dream was not like that, and yet it left Mma Ramotswe feeling that she had somehow been given advance notice of something out of the ordinary, something important.
 
In this dream she was walking along a path in the stretch of bush immediately behind Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, the building that the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency shared with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage. She was not sure where she was going, but this did not seem to matter as Mma Ramotswe felt happy just to be walking along it with no great sense of having to reach a destination. And why should one not walk along a path, particularly a comfortable path, without any idea of getting anywhere?
 
She turned a corner and found herself faced with a large acacia tree, its foliage extending out like the canopy of a commodious umbrella. To dream of trees is to . . . to long for trees, and finding herself under the shade of this tree would have been enough to make the dream a satisfactory one. But there was more to it. Underneath the tree, standing in such a position that the mottled shade of the leaves all but obscured his face, was a tall, well-built man. He now stepped forward, held out a hand and said, “I have come at last, Mma Ramotswe.”
 
And that was the point at which Mma Ramotswe awoke. The encounter with this stranger had not been threatening in any way; there had been nothing in his demeanour that was suggestive of hostility, and she had not felt in the slightest bit anxious. As for what he said, she had simply thought, even if she had not had the time to say it, Yes, it has been a long time.
 
For a few minutes after waking, she had lain still in bed, mulling over the dream. Had the man been her father, then the dream would have been easy to understand. She knew that she dreamed of her father from time to time, which was only to be expected, given that not a day went past, not one day, when she did not think of that great and good man, the late Obed Ramotswe. If you think of somebody every day, then you can be sure you will dream of him at night; but it was not him whom she encountered under that acacia tree—that was very clear. It was somebody quite different, somebody she sensed was from a long way away. But who could that be? Mma Ramotswe did not really know anybody from a long way away, unless one counted Francistown or Maun, where she knew a number of people. But those towns, although several hundred miles from Gaborone, are both in Botswana, and nowhere in Botswana was the abode of strangers. That was because Botswana, to those who lived there, was home, and familiar, and comfortable, and no place in such a country will seem far away. No, this man under the tree was from somewhere outside the country, and that was unusual and puzzling and would have to be thought about at some length.
 
“I had a very unusual dream,” she said to Mma Makutsi as they attended to the morning’s mail in the office.
 
Mma Makutsi looked up from the envelope that she was in the process of slitting open. “Dreams are always unusual,” she said. “In fact, it is unusual to have a usual dream.”
 
Mma Ramotswe frowned. She thought that she understood what Mma Makutsi meant but was not quite sure. Her assistant had a habit of making enigmatic remarks, and this, she suspected, was one such remark.
 
“Phuti,” Mma Makutsi continued, referring to her new husband, Phuti Radiphuti, “Phuti has many dreams, every night. He tells me about them and I explain what they mean.” She paused. “He often dreams about furniture.”
 
“That is because he has a furniture shop,” Mma Ramotswe said. “So perhaps it is not surprising.”
 
“That is so, Mma,” agreed Mma Makutsi. “But he can dream about different pieces of furniture.” She paused, fixing Mma Ramotswe on the other side of the room with the cautious look of one about to reveal sensitive information. She lowered her voice. “Some nights he dreams about beds; other nights he dreams about dining room tables. It is very strange.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked down at her desk. She did not like to discuss the intimate side of anybody’s marriage—particularly when the marriage was as recent as Mma Makutsi’s. She thought of new marriages as being rather like those shy, delicate flowers one sees on the edge of the Kalahari; so small that one might miss them altogether, so vulnerable that a careless step might crush their beauty. Of course, people talked about their dreams without too much embarrassment—most dreams, after all, sound inconsequential and silly in the cold light of day—but it was different when a wife talked about a husband’s dreams, or a husband about a wife’s. Dreams occurred in beds, and what occurred in marital beds was not a subject for debate in the office—especially if the dream related to beds, as it appeared that some of Phuti Radiphuti’s dreams did.
 
But if Mma Ramotswe was reluctant to probe Phuti’s dreams too closely, the same was not true of her assistant. The topic had now been broached, and Mma Makutsi pursued it enthusiastically.
 
“There is no doubt about a dream about beds,” she continued. “The meaning of that dream is very clear, Mma. It should be very obvious, even to a person who does not know much about dreams, or other things, for that matter.”
 
Mma Ramotswe said nothing.
 
“Yes,” said Mma Makutsi, “if a person says I have been dreaming about beds, then you know straight away what the dream means. You can say to them, I know what that dream means. It is very clear.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked out of the window, which was high, and gave a view from that angle only of a slice of blue; empty blue; blue with no white of cloud; nothingness. “Is the meaning of dreams clear, Mma? Do any dreams make sense, or are they just like . . . like clouds in the sky, composed of nothing very much? Maybe they are clouds in our mind, Mma; maybe that is what they are.”
 
Mma Makutsi was having none of this. “The meaning is often clear,” she retorted. “I have no difficulty, Mma, in understanding a dream about beds.”
 
Mma Ramotswe sighed. “Well, they do say, don’t they, Mma, that men have such things on their minds most of the time. They say that men think only of that, all day. Listen to the way Charlie speaks when he thinks you can’t hear him. That shows you what men think about—or at least, young men. I do not think that Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has thoughts like that in his head all day. I do not think that, Mma.”
 
It was as if Mma Makutsi had not heard her. “Yes, Mma. The meaning of a dream about beds is very simple. It means that you are tired. It means that you need more sleep.”
 
Mma Ramotswe stared at her assistant for a few moments. Then, with some degree of relief, she smiled. “Well, there you have it, Mma. That must be what such a dream means.”
 
“On the other hand,” went on Mma Makutsi, “a dream about a dining-room table is different. That does not mean that you are tired.”
 
“No.”
 
“No, it does not mean that, Mma. A dream about a dining-room table means that you are hungry. I think that is very obvious.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked first at the teapot, and then at the clock. She would wait, she decided; if one kept bringing forward the time at which one had tea, then the period after teatime would become far too long. Tea had to be taken at the right time; if anything was clear, it was that.
 
She decided to steer the conversation back to her own dream. But just as she was about to do so, Mma Makutsi came up with a further observation on Phuti’s dreams. “When he said to me one morning that he had dreamed of dining-room tables, I was worried. Was I giving him enough to eat, I wondered?”
 
“And what did you decide, Mma?”
 
“I think I’m giving him enough food. I believe in demand feeding. I think that is what it’s called. I always leave some food out in the kitchen so that Phuti can pick up a snack if he feels hungry. There are other women who believe that you should only feed your husband at set times, so that he gets used to it. But I am not one of those women, Mma. I leave food out.”
 
Mma Ramotswe suppressed a grin at the thought of demand feeding for husbands. The conversation, although potentially sensitive, had proved to be more amusing than anything else, and she knew that it could drift on indefinitely. It was her own dream that had started it, and it was to her dream that she now returned.
 
“I had a very strange dream last night, Mma,” she said. “As I was saying.”
 
“Please tell me what it was, Mma,” said Mma Makutsi. “I cannot guarantee that I will be able to tell you what it means, but we shall see.”
 
“I dreamed that I was walking along a path,” Mma Ramotswe began. “And—”
 
Mma Makutsi interrupted her. “That means you are going on a journey, Mma. There can be no doubt about that.”
 
Mma Ramotswe acknowledged this. “Possibly. But then the path came to a place—”
 
“That is your destination,” announced Mma Makutsi. “Thatplace that you saw in your dream was your destination in life. That is very clear indeed. What was it like, Mma? Was it a very good place?”
 
“There was an acacia tree—”
 
Again there was an interjection. “Then that means you are going to end up under a tree, Mma. That is where you will find yourself, under a tree.” She looked at Mma Ramotswe sympathetically.
 
“That is not too bad, Mma. There are many worse places to end up.”
 
“But the tree was not all that important,” said Mma Ramotswe, raising her voice slightly to prevent further interruption. “There was a man standing under the tree. It was as if he was waiting for me.”
 
“That will be Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.”
 
Mma Ramotswe shook her head. “It was not him. It was a man I had never seen before. And he did not come from here. He was a stranger.”
 
Mma Makutsi’s glasses flashed in a slanting band of sunlight. “Not from Gaborone?” she asked. “Not from Botswana?”
 
“No. He was from somewhere else. He was not an African at all.”
 
Mma Makutsi was silent. Then she delivered her judgement. “You are going to meet a stranger,” she said, with an air of gravity. “You are going to meet a stranger under an acacia tree.”
 
“I thought it might mean something like that,” said Mma Ramotswe. “But then I thought that it probably didn’t mean anything at all. That it was just a dream, and I would forget about it by this afternoon.”
 
Mma Makutsi looked doubtful. “I don’t think you should forget it, Mma Ramotswe. I think that you should remember it, so that when it happens, when you meet that stranger under the acacia tree, you will be prepared.”
 
She said nothing more, but gave Mma Ramotswe an oblique look; a look that Mma Ramotswe interpreted as a warning. But she had not understood—for all her claims to understanding dreams, Mma Makutsi had missed the point. This stranger was not threatening; this stranger, for whom Mma Makutsi said she should be prepared, was not somebody to be dreaded or guarded against. On the contrary, this stranger was a good man, a kind man, and his arrival—if he were ever to come, which was highly unlikely—was something to be welcomed, something to be celebrated. And there was something else—something that was hard to put into words. The man in the dream might have been a stranger in that she had never seen him before, but somehow she felt that she knew him. She knew him but did not know him.
 
She glanced at her watch again. Resolve can be weakened by time, and by talk about dreams and by heat.
 
“I know it’s a bit early, but I think that we should have tea now,” she said to Mma Makutsi. And Mma Makutsi, who had removed her glasses to clean them, looked up, finished her task of polishing the lenses and said that she completely agreed.
 
“On a hot day,” she said, “we dream of tea.”
Copyright © 2012 by Alexander McCall Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Michael Lionstar

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels and a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland.

View titles by Alexander McCall Smith

About

Alexander McCall Smith’s beloved, bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series continues as Botswana’s best and kindest detective finds her personal and professional lives have become entangled.

Precious Ramotswe is very busy these days. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. Most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, the orphan farm’s respected matron, has been dismissed from her post. Mma Ramotswe is not about to rest when her friends are mistreated. Help arrives from an unexpected visitor. He is none other than the estimable Mr. Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Detection, the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their colleague help right injustices that occur even in their beloved Botswana, and in the process discover something new about being a good detective.

“In Mma Ramotswe, [McCall Smith] minted one of the most memorable heroines in any modern fiction.” —Newsweek

“Enthralling. . . . Mma Ramotswe is someone readers can’t help but love.” —USA Today

“If you’ve never read a No. 1 Ladies’, now’s the time. . . . The brilliance of this series … is that what may seem like tiny cases expand into considerations of virtue, love, ambition, greed, and evil.” —Booklist (starred review)

“An oasis. . . . Full of wit, nuance, and caring.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Smart and sassy . . . [with] the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once.” —Los Angeles Times

“There is no end to the pleasure that may be extracted from these books.” —The New York Times Book Review

“These gentle stories of manners and morality have a clarity that . . . seems far harder to discern in our own rushed, deadline-driven lives.” —The Scotsman

“Endearing, amusing. . . . Sparkles with African sunshine and wit.” —Dallas Morning News

“The best, most charming, honest, hilarious, and life-affirming books to appear in years.” —The Plain Dealer

Excerpt

In Botswana, home to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for the problems of ladies, and others, it is customary—one might say very customary—to enquire of the people whom you meet whether they have slept well. The answer to that question is almost inevitably that they have indeed slept well, even if they have not, and have spent the night tossing and turning as a result of the nocturnal barking of dogs, the activity of mosquitoes or the prickings of a bad conscience. Of course, mosquitoes may be defeated by nets or sprays, just as dogs may be roundly scolded; a bad conscience, though, is not so easily stifled. If somebody were to invent a spray capable of dealing with an uncomfortable conscience, that person would undoubtedly do rather well—but perhaps might not sleep as soundly as before, were he to reflect on the consequences of his invention. Bad consciences, it would appear, are there for a purpose: to make us feel regret over our failings. Should they be silenced, then our entirely human weaknesses, our manifold omissions, would become all the greater—and that, as Mma Ramotswe would certainly say, is not a good thing.
 
Mma Ramotswe was fortunate in having an untroubled con-science, and therefore generally enjoyed undisturbed sleep. It was her habit to take to her bed after a final cup of red bush tea at around ten o’clock at night. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, her husband and by common consent the finest mechanic in all Botswana, would often retire before her, particularly if he had had a tiring day at work. Mechanics in general sleep well, as do many others whose day is taken up with physically demanding labour. So by the time that Mma Ramotswe went to bed, he might already be lost to this world, his breathing deep and regular, his eyes firmly closed to the bedside light that he would leave for his wife to extinguish.
 
She would not take long to go to sleep, drifting off to thoughts of what had happened that day; to images of herself drinking tea in the office or driving her van on an errand; to the picture of Mma Makutsi sitting upright at her desk, her large glasses catching the light as she held forth on some issue or other. Or to some memory of a long time ago, of her father walking down a dusty road, holding her hand and explaining to her about the ways of cattle—a subject that he knew so well. When a wise man dies, there is so much history that is lost: that is what they said, and Mma Ramotswe knew it to be true. Her own father, the late Obed Ramotswe, had taken so much with him, but had also left much behind, so many memories and sayings and observations, that she, his daughter, could now call up and cherish as she waited for the soft arms of sleep to embrace her.
 
Mma Ramotswe did not remember her dreams for very long once she had woken up. Occasionally, though, an egregiously vivid dream might make such an impression that it lodged in her memory, and that is what happened that morning. It was not in any way a bad dream; nor was it a particularly good dream, the sort of dream that makes one feel as if one has been vouchsafed some great mystical insight; it was, rather, one of those dreams that seems to be a clear warning that something special is about to happen. If a dream involves lottery tickets and numbers, then its meaning is clear enough. This dream was not like that, and yet it left Mma Ramotswe feeling that she had somehow been given advance notice of something out of the ordinary, something important.
 
In this dream she was walking along a path in the stretch of bush immediately behind Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, the building that the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency shared with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage. She was not sure where she was going, but this did not seem to matter as Mma Ramotswe felt happy just to be walking along it with no great sense of having to reach a destination. And why should one not walk along a path, particularly a comfortable path, without any idea of getting anywhere?
 
She turned a corner and found herself faced with a large acacia tree, its foliage extending out like the canopy of a commodious umbrella. To dream of trees is to . . . to long for trees, and finding herself under the shade of this tree would have been enough to make the dream a satisfactory one. But there was more to it. Underneath the tree, standing in such a position that the mottled shade of the leaves all but obscured his face, was a tall, well-built man. He now stepped forward, held out a hand and said, “I have come at last, Mma Ramotswe.”
 
And that was the point at which Mma Ramotswe awoke. The encounter with this stranger had not been threatening in any way; there had been nothing in his demeanour that was suggestive of hostility, and she had not felt in the slightest bit anxious. As for what he said, she had simply thought, even if she had not had the time to say it, Yes, it has been a long time.
 
For a few minutes after waking, she had lain still in bed, mulling over the dream. Had the man been her father, then the dream would have been easy to understand. She knew that she dreamed of her father from time to time, which was only to be expected, given that not a day went past, not one day, when she did not think of that great and good man, the late Obed Ramotswe. If you think of somebody every day, then you can be sure you will dream of him at night; but it was not him whom she encountered under that acacia tree—that was very clear. It was somebody quite different, somebody she sensed was from a long way away. But who could that be? Mma Ramotswe did not really know anybody from a long way away, unless one counted Francistown or Maun, where she knew a number of people. But those towns, although several hundred miles from Gaborone, are both in Botswana, and nowhere in Botswana was the abode of strangers. That was because Botswana, to those who lived there, was home, and familiar, and comfortable, and no place in such a country will seem far away. No, this man under the tree was from somewhere outside the country, and that was unusual and puzzling and would have to be thought about at some length.
 
“I had a very unusual dream,” she said to Mma Makutsi as they attended to the morning’s mail in the office.
 
Mma Makutsi looked up from the envelope that she was in the process of slitting open. “Dreams are always unusual,” she said. “In fact, it is unusual to have a usual dream.”
 
Mma Ramotswe frowned. She thought that she understood what Mma Makutsi meant but was not quite sure. Her assistant had a habit of making enigmatic remarks, and this, she suspected, was one such remark.
 
“Phuti,” Mma Makutsi continued, referring to her new husband, Phuti Radiphuti, “Phuti has many dreams, every night. He tells me about them and I explain what they mean.” She paused. “He often dreams about furniture.”
 
“That is because he has a furniture shop,” Mma Ramotswe said. “So perhaps it is not surprising.”
 
“That is so, Mma,” agreed Mma Makutsi. “But he can dream about different pieces of furniture.” She paused, fixing Mma Ramotswe on the other side of the room with the cautious look of one about to reveal sensitive information. She lowered her voice. “Some nights he dreams about beds; other nights he dreams about dining room tables. It is very strange.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked down at her desk. She did not like to discuss the intimate side of anybody’s marriage—particularly when the marriage was as recent as Mma Makutsi’s. She thought of new marriages as being rather like those shy, delicate flowers one sees on the edge of the Kalahari; so small that one might miss them altogether, so vulnerable that a careless step might crush their beauty. Of course, people talked about their dreams without too much embarrassment—most dreams, after all, sound inconsequential and silly in the cold light of day—but it was different when a wife talked about a husband’s dreams, or a husband about a wife’s. Dreams occurred in beds, and what occurred in marital beds was not a subject for debate in the office—especially if the dream related to beds, as it appeared that some of Phuti Radiphuti’s dreams did.
 
But if Mma Ramotswe was reluctant to probe Phuti’s dreams too closely, the same was not true of her assistant. The topic had now been broached, and Mma Makutsi pursued it enthusiastically.
 
“There is no doubt about a dream about beds,” she continued. “The meaning of that dream is very clear, Mma. It should be very obvious, even to a person who does not know much about dreams, or other things, for that matter.”
 
Mma Ramotswe said nothing.
 
“Yes,” said Mma Makutsi, “if a person says I have been dreaming about beds, then you know straight away what the dream means. You can say to them, I know what that dream means. It is very clear.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked out of the window, which was high, and gave a view from that angle only of a slice of blue; empty blue; blue with no white of cloud; nothingness. “Is the meaning of dreams clear, Mma? Do any dreams make sense, or are they just like . . . like clouds in the sky, composed of nothing very much? Maybe they are clouds in our mind, Mma; maybe that is what they are.”
 
Mma Makutsi was having none of this. “The meaning is often clear,” she retorted. “I have no difficulty, Mma, in understanding a dream about beds.”
 
Mma Ramotswe sighed. “Well, they do say, don’t they, Mma, that men have such things on their minds most of the time. They say that men think only of that, all day. Listen to the way Charlie speaks when he thinks you can’t hear him. That shows you what men think about—or at least, young men. I do not think that Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has thoughts like that in his head all day. I do not think that, Mma.”
 
It was as if Mma Makutsi had not heard her. “Yes, Mma. The meaning of a dream about beds is very simple. It means that you are tired. It means that you need more sleep.”
 
Mma Ramotswe stared at her assistant for a few moments. Then, with some degree of relief, she smiled. “Well, there you have it, Mma. That must be what such a dream means.”
 
“On the other hand,” went on Mma Makutsi, “a dream about a dining-room table is different. That does not mean that you are tired.”
 
“No.”
 
“No, it does not mean that, Mma. A dream about a dining-room table means that you are hungry. I think that is very obvious.”
 
Mma Ramotswe looked first at the teapot, and then at the clock. She would wait, she decided; if one kept bringing forward the time at which one had tea, then the period after teatime would become far too long. Tea had to be taken at the right time; if anything was clear, it was that.
 
She decided to steer the conversation back to her own dream. But just as she was about to do so, Mma Makutsi came up with a further observation on Phuti’s dreams. “When he said to me one morning that he had dreamed of dining-room tables, I was worried. Was I giving him enough to eat, I wondered?”
 
“And what did you decide, Mma?”
 
“I think I’m giving him enough food. I believe in demand feeding. I think that is what it’s called. I always leave some food out in the kitchen so that Phuti can pick up a snack if he feels hungry. There are other women who believe that you should only feed your husband at set times, so that he gets used to it. But I am not one of those women, Mma. I leave food out.”
 
Mma Ramotswe suppressed a grin at the thought of demand feeding for husbands. The conversation, although potentially sensitive, had proved to be more amusing than anything else, and she knew that it could drift on indefinitely. It was her own dream that had started it, and it was to her dream that she now returned.
 
“I had a very strange dream last night, Mma,” she said. “As I was saying.”
 
“Please tell me what it was, Mma,” said Mma Makutsi. “I cannot guarantee that I will be able to tell you what it means, but we shall see.”
 
“I dreamed that I was walking along a path,” Mma Ramotswe began. “And—”
 
Mma Makutsi interrupted her. “That means you are going on a journey, Mma. There can be no doubt about that.”
 
Mma Ramotswe acknowledged this. “Possibly. But then the path came to a place—”
 
“That is your destination,” announced Mma Makutsi. “Thatplace that you saw in your dream was your destination in life. That is very clear indeed. What was it like, Mma? Was it a very good place?”
 
“There was an acacia tree—”
 
Again there was an interjection. “Then that means you are going to end up under a tree, Mma. That is where you will find yourself, under a tree.” She looked at Mma Ramotswe sympathetically.
 
“That is not too bad, Mma. There are many worse places to end up.”
 
“But the tree was not all that important,” said Mma Ramotswe, raising her voice slightly to prevent further interruption. “There was a man standing under the tree. It was as if he was waiting for me.”
 
“That will be Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.”
 
Mma Ramotswe shook her head. “It was not him. It was a man I had never seen before. And he did not come from here. He was a stranger.”
 
Mma Makutsi’s glasses flashed in a slanting band of sunlight. “Not from Gaborone?” she asked. “Not from Botswana?”
 
“No. He was from somewhere else. He was not an African at all.”
 
Mma Makutsi was silent. Then she delivered her judgement. “You are going to meet a stranger,” she said, with an air of gravity. “You are going to meet a stranger under an acacia tree.”
 
“I thought it might mean something like that,” said Mma Ramotswe. “But then I thought that it probably didn’t mean anything at all. That it was just a dream, and I would forget about it by this afternoon.”
 
Mma Makutsi looked doubtful. “I don’t think you should forget it, Mma Ramotswe. I think that you should remember it, so that when it happens, when you meet that stranger under the acacia tree, you will be prepared.”
 
She said nothing more, but gave Mma Ramotswe an oblique look; a look that Mma Ramotswe interpreted as a warning. But she had not understood—for all her claims to understanding dreams, Mma Makutsi had missed the point. This stranger was not threatening; this stranger, for whom Mma Makutsi said she should be prepared, was not somebody to be dreaded or guarded against. On the contrary, this stranger was a good man, a kind man, and his arrival—if he were ever to come, which was highly unlikely—was something to be welcomed, something to be celebrated. And there was something else—something that was hard to put into words. The man in the dream might have been a stranger in that she had never seen him before, but somehow she felt that she knew him. She knew him but did not know him.
 
She glanced at her watch again. Resolve can be weakened by time, and by talk about dreams and by heat.
 
“I know it’s a bit early, but I think that we should have tea now,” she said to Mma Makutsi. And Mma Makutsi, who had removed her glasses to clean them, looked up, finished her task of polishing the lenses and said that she completely agreed.
 
“On a hot day,” she said, “we dream of tea.”
Copyright © 2012 by Alexander McCall Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Author

© Michael Lionstar

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels and a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland.

View titles by Alexander McCall Smith

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    A Conspiracy of Friends
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-94800-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 30, 2013
  • Unusual Uses for Olive Oil
    Unusual Uses for Olive Oil
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27989-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 01, 2013
  • The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73940-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 02, 2012
  • The Importance of Being Seven
    The Importance of Being Seven
    44 Scotland Street Series (6)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73936-0
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 21, 2012
  • The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
    The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73944-5
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 29, 2012
  • The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
    The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-74389-3
    $6.99 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 03, 2012
  • The Charming Quirks of Others
    The Charming Quirks of Others
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73939-1
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 01, 2011
  • The Perils of Morning Coffee
    The Perils of Morning Coffee
    An Isabel Dalhousie eBook Original Story
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-90751-6
    $1.99 US
    Ebook
    Pantheon
    Oct 25, 2011
  • Corduroy Mansions
    Corduroy Mansions
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-47650-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 31, 2011
  • La's Orchestra Saves the World
    La's Orchestra Saves the World
    A Novel
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-47304-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 07, 2010
  • The Lost Art of Gratitude
    The Lost Art of Gratitude
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38708-0
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Sep 21, 2010
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
    The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
    44 Scotland Street Series (5)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-45470-6
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 12, 2010
  • The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
    The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38707-3
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 28, 2009
  • The World According to Bertie
    The World According to Bertie
    44 Scotland Street Series (4)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38706-6
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 11, 2008
  • The Careful Use of Compliments
    The Careful Use of Compliments
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7712-0
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 26, 2008
  • Love Over Scotland
    Love Over Scotland
    44 Scotland Street Series (3)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27598-1
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 06, 2007
  • The Right Attitude to Rain
    The Right Attitude to Rain
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7711-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 10, 2007
  • Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
    Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7710-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 29, 2006
  • Espresso Tales
    Espresso Tales
    44 Scotland Street Series (2)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27597-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 11, 2006
  • The Sunday Philosophy Club
    The Sunday Philosophy Club
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7709-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 12, 2005
  • 44 Scotland Street
    44 Scotland Street
    44 Scotland Street Series (1)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7944-5
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 14, 2005
  • Portuguese Irregular Verbs
    Portuguese Irregular Verbs
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7708-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
    The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-9508-7
    $14.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
    At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-9509-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • The Girl Who Married a Lion
    The Girl Who Married a Lion
    and Other Tales from Africa
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-375-42344-4
    $12.99 US
    Ebook
    Pantheon
    Dec 07, 2004
  • No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (24)
    No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (24)
    No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (24)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-31699-3
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Pantheon
    Oct 17, 2023
  • The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf
    The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf
    A Detective Varg Novel (4)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-70083-9
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Pantheon
    Jul 25, 2023
  • The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even
    The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even
    Stories
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-70069-3
    $29.00 US
    Hardcover
    Pantheon
    May 09, 2023
  • The Enigma of Garlic
    The Enigma of Garlic
    44 Scotland Street Series (16)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-68519-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 11, 2023
  • Cook for Me
    Cook for Me
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-68605-8
    $1.99 US
    Ebook
    Anchor
    Feb 14, 2023
  • Sphinx
    Sphinx
    from Pianos and Flowers
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-68547-1
    $0.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Oct 11, 2022
  • The Sweet Remnants of Summer
    The Sweet Remnants of Summer
    An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (14)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-60809-8
    $29.00 US
    Large Print
    Random House Large Print
    Jul 19, 2022
  • The Man with the Silver Saab
    The Man with the Silver Saab
    A Detective Varg Novel (3)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-31363-3
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 07, 2022
  • In a Time of Distance
    In a Time of Distance
    and Other Poems
    Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh
    978-0-593-31598-9
    $22.00 US
    Hardcover
    Pantheon
    Apr 12, 2022
  • Tiny Tales
    Tiny Tales
    Stories of Romance, Ambition, Kindness, and Happiness
    Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh
    978-0-593-31297-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 01, 2022
  • Love in the Time of Bertie
    Love in the Time of Bertie
    44 Scotland Street Series (15)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-46844-9
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 22, 2022
  • The Pavilion in the Clouds
    The Pavilion in the Clouds
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-46909-5
    $8.99 US
    Ebook
    Anchor
    Jan 25, 2022
  • Pianos and Flowers
    Pianos and Flowers
    Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-31096-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 07, 2021
  • The Geometry of Holding Hands
    The Geometry of Holding Hands
    An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (13)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-08123-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 15, 2021
  • Your Inner Hedgehog
    Your Inner Hedgehog
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-31267-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 06, 2021
  • The Talented Mr. Varg
    The Talented Mr. Varg
    A Detective Varg Novel (2)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-08122-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 02, 2021
  • A Promise of Ankles
    A Promise of Ankles
    44 Scotland Street (14)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-593-31328-2
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 08, 2020
  • The Second-Worst Restaurant in France
    The Second-Worst Restaurant in France
    A Paul Stuart Novel (2)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-56642-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 02, 2020
  • The Department of Sensitive Crimes
    The Department of Sensitive Crimes
    A Detective Varg Novel (1)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-56567-3
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 04, 2020
  • The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
    The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
    44 Scotland Street Series (13)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-9848-9781-7
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 03, 2019
  • The Quiet Side of Passion
    The Quiet Side of Passion
    An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (12)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-8041-6993-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 04, 2019
  • The Race to Kangaroo Cliff
    The Race to Kangaroo Cliff
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-399-55405-6
    $15.99 US
    Hardcover
    Delacorte Press
    Apr 09, 2019
  • The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists
    The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-9848-9852-4
    $2.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Feb 26, 2019
  • The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse
    The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse
    A Novel
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-56303-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 05, 2019
  • A Distant View of Everything
    A Distant View of Everything
    An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (11)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-8041-6992-9
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 21, 2018
  • Freddie Mole: Lion Tamer
    Freddie Mole: Lion Tamer
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-5247-1379-9
    $10.99 US
    Ebook
    Delacorte Press
    Jul 10, 2018
  • My Italian Bulldozer
    My Italian Bulldozer
    A Paul Stuart Novel (1)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-101-97283-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Mar 06, 2018
  • A Time of Love and Tartan
    A Time of Love and Tartan
    44 Scotland Street Series (12)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-43655-3
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 06, 2018
  • Chance Developments
    Chance Developments
    Stories
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-101-97187-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 28, 2017
  • The Sands of Shark Island
    The Sands of Shark Island
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-399-55403-2
    $7.99 US
    Ebook
    Delacorte Press
    Jul 11, 2017
  • The Bertie Project
    The Bertie Project
    44 Scotland Street Series (11)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-43300-2
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 07, 2017
  • School Ship Tobermory
    School Ship Tobermory
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-399-55261-8
    $15.99 US
    Hardcover
    Delacorte Press
    Oct 11, 2016
  • The Novel Habits of Happiness
    The Novel Habits of Happiness
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-94924-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 23, 2016
  • Sweet, Thoughtful Valentine
    Sweet, Thoughtful Valentine
    An Isabel Dalhousie Story
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-525-43191-6
    $0.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    May 31, 2016
  • Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Emma: A Modern Retelling
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-8041-7241-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 05, 2016
  • The Revolving Door of Life
    The Revolving Door of Life
    44 Scotland Street Series (10)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-101-97191-8
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 09, 2016
  • At the Reunion Buffet
    At the Reunion Buffet
    An Isabel Dalhousie Story
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-101-97046-1
    $1.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    May 26, 2015
  • Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
    Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
    44 Scotland Street Series (9)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-8041-7000-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Feb 17, 2015
  • The Forever Girl
    The Forever Girl
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-345-80442-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 30, 2014
  • The Mystery of the Missing Lion
    The Mystery of the Missing Lion
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-8041-7327-8
    $7.99 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 21, 2014
  • Sunshine on Scotland Street
    Sunshine on Scotland Street
    44 Scotland Street Series (8)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-345-80440-2
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 12, 2014
  • Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party
    Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-101-87301-4
    $3.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Aug 05, 2014
  • Trains and Lovers
    Trains and Lovers
    A Novel
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-345-80581-2
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 31, 2013
  • Mystery of Meerkat Hill
    Mystery of Meerkat Hill
    Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh
    978-0-345-80446-4
    $7.99 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 22, 2013
  • Bertie Plays the Blues
    Bertie Plays the Blues
    44 Scotland Street Series (7)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-94849-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 08, 2013
  • The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds
    The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-94923-3
    $14.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 02, 2013
  • A Conspiracy of Friends
    A Conspiracy of Friends
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-94800-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 30, 2013
  • Unusual Uses for Olive Oil
    Unusual Uses for Olive Oil
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27989-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 01, 2013
  • The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73940-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Oct 02, 2012
  • The Importance of Being Seven
    The Importance of Being Seven
    44 Scotland Street Series (6)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73936-0
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 21, 2012
  • The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
    The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73944-5
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 29, 2012
  • The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
    The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-74389-3
    $6.99 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Apr 03, 2012
  • The Charming Quirks of Others
    The Charming Quirks of Others
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-73939-1
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 01, 2011
  • The Perils of Morning Coffee
    The Perils of Morning Coffee
    An Isabel Dalhousie eBook Original Story
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-90751-6
    $1.99 US
    Ebook
    Pantheon
    Oct 25, 2011
  • Corduroy Mansions
    Corduroy Mansions
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-47650-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    May 31, 2011
  • La's Orchestra Saves the World
    La's Orchestra Saves the World
    A Novel
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-47304-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 07, 2010
  • The Lost Art of Gratitude
    The Lost Art of Gratitude
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38708-0
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Sep 21, 2010
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
    The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
    44 Scotland Street Series (5)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-45470-6
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jan 12, 2010
  • The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
    The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38707-3
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 28, 2009
  • The World According to Bertie
    The World According to Bertie
    44 Scotland Street Series (4)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-38706-6
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 11, 2008
  • The Careful Use of Compliments
    The Careful Use of Compliments
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7712-0
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 26, 2008
  • Love Over Scotland
    Love Over Scotland
    44 Scotland Street Series (3)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27598-1
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Nov 06, 2007
  • The Right Attitude to Rain
    The Right Attitude to Rain
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7711-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 10, 2007
  • Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
    Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7710-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Aug 29, 2006
  • Espresso Tales
    Espresso Tales
    44 Scotland Street Series (2)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-307-27597-4
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 11, 2006
  • The Sunday Philosophy Club
    The Sunday Philosophy Club
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7709-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jul 12, 2005
  • 44 Scotland Street
    44 Scotland Street
    44 Scotland Street Series (1)
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7944-5
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Jun 14, 2005
  • Portuguese Irregular Verbs
    Portuguese Irregular Verbs
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-7708-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
    The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-9508-7
    $14.95 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
    At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-1-4000-9509-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Anchor
    Dec 28, 2004
  • The Girl Who Married a Lion
    The Girl Who Married a Lion
    and Other Tales from Africa
    Alexander McCall Smith
    978-0-375-42344-4
    $12.99 US
    Ebook
    Pantheon
    Dec 07, 2004
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