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Blue Shoes and Happiness
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Little, Brown and Company Год: 2007 Страниц: 256 Дата загрузки: 25 июня 20092010-02-29
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Now that she is finally and happily married to her long-term suitor Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency of Botswana might have expected life to grow more sedate. But the many problems that lead customers to Mma Ramotswe's door seem, if anything, to have multiplied, and no sooner has she settled her traditionally built person into the married state than she finds herself looking into several troublesome matters at once. There is, to begin with, a disturbing case of blackmail and theft from the Government catering college. Then, while on an errand for her husband to the Mokolodi Game Reserve Mma Ramotswe is seconded to investigate an unpleasant atmosphere that may be down to witchcraft, or something worse. There are sinister goings-on at a health clinic to be looked into, not to mention any number of small wrongs to be righted along the path to detective triumph. And all the time Mma Ramotswe has weighty questions of a philosophical nature to consider, such as whether it is right to find happiness in small things, such as a new pair of blue shoes, a slice of cake, or a red sunset over the Kalahari.
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The Careful Use of Compliments
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература Год: 2005 Страниц: 247 Дата загрузки: 15 сентября 20102009-03-29
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For philosophically minded Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, getting through life with a clear conscience requires careful thought. And with the arrival of baby Charlie, not to mention a passionate relationship with his father Jamie, fourteen years her junior, Isabel enters deeper and rougher waters. Late motherhood is not the only challenge facing Isabel. Even as she negotiates a truce with her furious niece Cat, and struggles for authority over her son with her formidable housekeeper Grace, Isabel finds herself drawn into the story of a painter's mysterious death off the island of Jura. Perhaps most seriously of all, Isabel's professional existence and that of her beloved Review come under attack from the machiavellian and suspiciously handsome Professor Dove. A master storyteller whether debating ethics in Edinburgh or pursuing lady detectives in Africa, here Alexander McCall Smith is as witty and wise as his irresistibly spirited heroine.
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Miracle at Speedy Motors
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Little, Brown and Company Год: 2009 Страниц: 256 Дата загрузки: 26 мая 20122010-12-30
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It has never occurred to Precious Ramotswe that there might be disadvantages to being the best-known lady detective in Botswana. But when she receives a threatening anonymous letter, she is compelled to reconsider her unconquerable belief in a kind world and good neighbours. While she ponders the identity of the letter-writer Mma Ramotswe has a further set of problems to solve, both professional and personal. There is an adopted child's poignant search for her true family, and Mr J. L. B. Matekoni's pursuit of an expensive miracle for their own foster daughter Motholeli. With these latest developments on Tlokweng Road, Alexander McCall Smith reveals with all his brilliant storytelling skill that there are very few troubles that cannot be solved with kindness, and very few dry seasons that do not end with welcome rain.
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The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Little, Brown and Company Год: 2004 Страниц: 400 Дата загрузки: 14 июля 20092006-10-20
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Alexander McCall Smith, best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, has turned his hand to humour. The delightful result is a creation of comic genius. For in the unnaturally tall form of Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, we are invited to meet a memorable character whose sublime insouciance is a blend of the cultivated pomposity of Frasier Crane and of Inspecteur Clouseau’s hapless gaucherie. Von Igelfeld inhabits the rarefied world of the Institute of Romance Philology at Regensburg, a world he shares with his equally tall and equally ridiculous colleagues, Professors Florianus Prinzel and Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer. Their unlikely adventures are described in three deliciously funny instalments: Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances.
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The Banana Machine
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2006 Страниц: 96 Дата загрузки: 15 мая 20092011-08-23
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Patty lives with her Aunt Bat on a banana plantation in Jamaica. Unfortunately, as it's such a small plantation, they're having trouble keeping up with the competition, and Aunt Bat is worried they'll have to sell up. Patty needs to think of an idea to turn things around, and fast! Inspiration comes to her as she's digging into a chocolate banana special at her local ice-cream parlour. All she needs to do is invent a machine — a banana machine. Will Patty's mechanical wizardry help the plantation out of its crisis? Or, like the bananas, are her ideas round the bend?
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The Bursting Balloons Mystery
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2006 Страниц: 80 Дата загрузки: 14 февраля 20082009-09-17
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Max and Maddy are on the trail of a criminal who'll stop at nothing to sabotage Mr Helium's trans-American hot-air balloon race. The prize is a gold balloon worth one million and one dollars, and all the money raised by the race is to go towards the Home for Children Whose Parents Have Disappeared in Balloons — so there's a lot at stake! They take to the skies on board Mr Helium's very own balloon in order to catch the cheat. But will the detectives become victim to the dastardly villain's dangerous schemes and dirty tricks, or will they blow his plot sky-high?
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The Popcorn Pirates
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2005 Страниц: 96 Дата загрузки: 15 мая 20082010-08-23
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Lucy, Hermione and Sam offer to accompany the captain and his dog, Biscuit on the next trip to keep a lookout for danger. But danger is exactly what they run into! The pirates aren't just after more popcorn they want new recruits too! Will three children — and a dog — defeat the greediest gang of grub-guzzling pirates ever to sail the high seas?
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In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Daedalus Books Год: 2004 Страниц: 231 Дата загрузки: 11 июля 20092007-04-17
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Precious Ramotswe, that cheerful Botswanan private investigator of 'traditional build', is well-known to millions across the world through the best-selling No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Those who have been following her exploits in five previously published novels will soon be able to savour the next instalment, in which, as usual, circumstances are never as straightforward as they seem and events take a more than unexpected turn. Precious Ramotswe, is now married to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. The Agency is busy, but Mma Ramotswe cannot ignore the plea which is made to her by a woman who comes to her with a tale of particular misfortune. Unfortunately, her attempts to help are interrupted by a close encounter between her tiny white van and a bicycle, and by a spectacular disagreement between her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and one of the apprentices at the garage. This apprentice has found a fancy girlfriend who drives a large silver Mercedes-Benz. How can he be rescued from his folly? And as for Mma Makutsi, she has found a dancing class, and a man who may not be able to dance very well but who admires her greatly. And all of this happens against a background of quiet sessions of bush tea, and of a land that stretches out forever under mile upon mile of empty sky.
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La's Orchestra Saves the World
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Daedalus Books Год: 2008 Страниц: 224 Дата загрузки: 10 декабря 20102012-03-29
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Thank you for the music... It's 1939 and the war in Europe casts a long, all-encompassing shadow. In a sleepy town in Suffolk, the generous and determined widow, La, forms an amateur orchestra to entertain the locals and soothe her own broken heart. She recruits Felix, a refugee from Poland, to play the flute, and a touching friendship emerges. When the war is over and the orchestra disbands, La is left pondering her next move. What role can she play in her community now the war is over? And can she let herself love again? La's Orchestra is another delightful story celebrating friendship and the healing power of music, told with the warmth and charm we've come to love from one of the nation's favourite storytellers.
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The World According to Bertie
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Daedalus Books Год: 2007 Страниц: 368 Дата загрузки: 10 декабря 20092012-08-23
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The World According to Bertie is the fourth in the series and revolves around the many colourful characters that come and go at No. 44 Scotland Street. McCall Smith handles the characters with his customary charm and deftness — the stalwart Tory chartered surveyor, the pushy mother, and, most importantly in this novel, the beleaguered Italian-speaking prodigy, Bertie. This is classic McCall Smith — clever, witty and entertaining — and beautifully illustrated. A chance encounter with Armistead Maupin in San Francisco inspired Alexander McCall Smith to write this series of novels based around the fictional No. 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh's New Town.
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The No: 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Little, Brown and Company Год: 2003 Страниц: 256 Дата загрузки: 23 августа 20092005-05-26
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Wayward daughters. Missing husbands. Philandering partners. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, but she's got warmth, wit and canny intuition on her side.
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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Daedalus Books Год: 2007 Страниц: 224 Дата загрузки: 10 декабря 20092011-03-29
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Mr J.L.B. Matekoni becomes involved in the agency's work when he investigates an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as competently 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.
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The Chocolate Money Mystery
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2006 Страниц: 80 Дата загрузки: 14 февраля 20082009-09-17
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Max and Maddy Twist's parents were once famous, international detectives — before the evil Professor Sardine ruined their careers, that is. Now they run an ice-cream parlour, and it is the services of their crime-busting Cluedo-champion children that are called upon. Mr Huffendort, a rich Swiss banker is very worried about a series of raids upon banks, carried out by a team of highly-trained St Bernard dogs! Who can be the criminal mastermind behind this evil and cunning plot? It's time for Max and Maddy to pack their hats, scarves and various disguises, and fly to Switzerland to find out.
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The Bubblegum Tree
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2005 Страниц: 96 Дата загрузки: 15 мая 20082010-08-23
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Billy, Nicola and Mr Gopal are off to India in a flying boat to solve a baffling mystery! The gum that comes from the wonderful bubblegum trees that grow in the Indian jungle has not been delivered for two months. Without this secret ingredient, there'll be no more Gopal's Best Pink Bubblegum, and even more importantly, no more Bubblegummies — the people who live in the trees and harvest the gum. It's not an easy mystery to solve — and soon the friends are involved in a bungee-jumping, tiger-trouncing, woodcutter-walloping, bubblegum-blowing adventure!
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The No: 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Pearson Год: 2008 Страниц: 64 Дата загрузки: 10 октрября 20112011-09-27
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Contemporary / British English (Available February 2008) Precious Ramotswe is a kind, warm-hearted and large African lady. She is also the only female private detective in Botswana. Her agency the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency is the best in the country. With help of her secretary, Mma Makutsi, and her best friend, Mr JLB Matekoni, she solves a number of difficult problems. A missing husband, a missing finger and a missing child she will solve these mysteries in her own special way.
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The Lost Art of Gratitude
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Random House, Inc. Год: 2010 Страниц: 262 Дата загрузки: 16 марта 20132013-04-19
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Isabels son, Charlie, is now of an ageeighteen monthsto have a social life, and so off they go to a birthday party, where, much to Isabels surprise, she encounters an old adversary, Minty Auchterlonie, now a high-flying financier. Minty had seemed to Isabel a woman of ruthless ambition, but the question of her integrity had never been answered. Now, when Minty takes Isabel into her confidence about a personal matter, Isabel finds herself going another round: Is Minty to be trusted? Or is she the perpetrator of an enormous financial fraud? And what should Isabel make of the rumors of shady financial transactions at Minty's investment bank? Not that this is the only dilemma facing Isabel: she also crosses swords again with her nemesis, Professor Dove, in an argument over plagiarism. Of course her niece, Cat, has a new, problematic man (a tightrope walker!) in her life. And there remains the open question of marriage to Jamiedoting father of Charlie. As always, there is no end to the delight in accompanying Isabel as she makes her way toward the heart of every problem: philosophizing, sleuthing, and downright snooping in her inimitableand inimitably charmingfashion.
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Calculator Annie
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2006 Страниц: 80 Дата загрузки: 14 февраля 20082009-09-17
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No matter how hard Annie tries, she just cannot do even the simplest sums. It's so embarrassing! When she goes to the shops, she can't work out how much money to hand the shopkeeper, and she always gets 0 for her maths homework. That is, until Annie goes to sleep with a calculator under her pillow, and something very strange happens. Overnight, Annie becomes a maths maestro capable of solving problems so fast it takes people's breath away. It impresses one world-renowned maths genius so much that he decides to put Annie's powers to the ultimate test. Will Annie be up to the mathematical challenge, or will she be at sixes and sevens and end up back at square one? Prepare yourself for this brain-teasing adventure.
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The Doughnut Ring
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2005 Страниц: 64 Дата загрузки: 10 октрября 20082008-09-27
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Jim and his friends are upset to hear that their school janitor's car has been stolen, and just before he's due to retire too. So Jim comes up with a bright idea for a way to help raise money to buy a new car: selling doughnuts. They start by making their own very delicious doughnuts to sell, but run into problems when demand exceeds supply. That's when Jim has another brainwave and decides the only way to make enough is to write a chain letter asking people to make more doughnuts. The doughnuts start rolling in and rolling in and soon Jim is up to his ears in them. It takes another inspired business idea to rescue a situation which is rapidly getting out of hand. This is the inspiring story of a boy with a big heart and big business ideas, from bestselling author, Alexander McCall Smith.
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Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Bloomsbury Publishing Год: 2006 Страниц: 80 Дата загрузки: 14 февраля 20082009-09-17
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Harriet is invited to help her detective aunts, Thessalonika and Japonica, investigate serious cheating in the world of horse racing. Initially excited by this prospect, Harriet quickly begins to regret getting involved. Will Harriet overcome her fears and find out who is causing Mr Fetlock's horses to lose all their races? Hold on tight for this bumpy ride!
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Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats
Автор: Alexander McCall Smith Жанр: Macmillan Publishers USA Год: 2007 Страниц: 66 Дата загрузки: 12 марта 20102009-10-30
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Harriet Bean loves nothing more than a good mystery. And together with her five extraordinary aunts (Veronica, Harmonica, Majolica, and twins Japonica and Thessalonika), she is always ready to take on a new case. Harriet doesn't think twice when her mind-reading detective aunts Japonica and Thessalonika enlist her help in catching a cheat at the racetrack. After all, Harriet is just the right size to go undercover as a jockey. But when the plan takes an unexpected turn, Harriet finds herself in the saddle.
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