The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to "help people with problems in their lives." Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agencyreceived two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by theTimes Literary Supplement. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law at Edinburgh University. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is the author of over fifty books on a wide range of subjects, including specialist titles such as <b>Forensic Aspects of Sleep</b> and <b>The Criminal Law of Botswana</b>, children's books such as<b> The Perfect Hamburger</b>, and a collection of stories called <b>Portuguese Irregular Verbs</b>.