Terence Moongrove's estate is turned upside down by the cosmological experiments of two New Age operators, while literary agent Barbara Ragg takes on a companion of the Abominable Snowman and Pimlico terrier Freddie de la Hay is recruited by MI6.

"From the beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a new short story collection: half spy stories, half tales of revenge, all highlight the kinder, funnier, and gentler side of espionage and retribution. In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself--quite...

Precious Ramotswe uses her formidable detection talents to track down her tiny white van--sold by her estimable husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and stolen from its new owner--while simultaneously helping to explain the dreadful losing streak of a local football team and smoothing out a snag in Mma Makutsi's engagement to Mr Phuti Radiphut.

"In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must have it like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that. This journey...

"The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she is ready to launch her interior-design business and strike out on her own. In the meantime, she will do what she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world than herself. Happily, this summer brings many new faces to Highbury and into the sphere of Emma's not always perfectly...

When Freddie gets a job at the circus to help his family financially, he is surprised--and frightened--to learn he will be the understudy for some of the acts.

Between intriguing new cases and troubling personal developments, Precious' hands are full. She investigates the claim of an important government worker, who suspects his brother is being poisoned. Meanwhile, assistant detective Mma Makutsi explores the moral fiber of four beauty pageant contestants.

When her absent-minded inventor father suddenly remembers that he has five sisters, nine-year-old Harriet Bean, who has never heard of them before, determines to find her unknown aunts so that the unfinished family portrait can be completed.

"Siblings Ben and Fee MacTavish and their schoolmates are aboard the School Ship Tobermory and headed to a small island in the Caribbean, where they will learn extraordinary details about their captain's past and come face to face with modern-day pirates"--