Description

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In this latest installment in the beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Grace Makutsi encounters a pair of quandaries that will require all of her and Mma Ramotswe’s cleverness and generosity to resolve.

“An escape from life’s woes as well as a suggestion for how to make the whole deal more palatable—fragility, fruit cake, and all.” —The Boston Globe

Grace Makutsi’s husband, Phuti Radiphuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market. Phuti has always been concerned with quality and comfort, but this firm seems interested only in profits. To make matters worse, they have a slick new advertising campaign that seems hard to beat.
 
Meanwhile, Grace is approached by an old friend who has a troubled son. She and Phuti agree to take Patience and Modise in and lend a hand, but things don’t work out quite as intended, and the situation proves difficult for them to handle. It will require not only all of their persistence and dedication but also help from an unexpected quarter to find a solution that will make everyone happy.
 
Faced with more than her fair share of delicate dilemmas, Mma Makutsi deals with it all with her usual graciousness. This—along with the kindness, generosity, and good sense for which the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is known—assures us that, in the end, each of these matters will be set right.

About the Author

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ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels and of 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.

Praise For…

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Praise for A Song of Comfortable Chairs and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

“What a treat to discover . . . Brims with good humor and compassion.” —Entertainment Weekly

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

“There is no end to the pleasure that may be extracted from these . . . books.” —Janet Malcolm, The New York Review of Books

“An escape from life’s woes as well as a suggestion for how to make the whole deal more palatable—fragility, fruit cake, and all.” —The Boston Globe

“The books, like their author, have charm. You cannot overstate the power of this—it’s the missing ingredient in contemporary fiction.” —The Guardian

“Entrancing . . . A tapestry of extraordinary nuance and richness.” —The Wall Street Journal

"McCall Smith choreographs an ingenious 'trickster tricked' plot here, centered on a swarm of cutthroat business people and one surly teenager. . . . Readers [will] delightedly immerse themselves in descriptions of the Botswana landscape; in Precious and Grace’s conversations over mugs of red bush tea; and in the doings of the rest of the cast of comic characters. Another delight from the prolific McCall Smith."
—Booklist *starred*