Full Cupboard of Life/In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) - Softcover

McCall Smith, Alexander

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0739328298 ISBN 13: 9780739328293

Publisher: Random House Large Print, 2008

Synopsis

Full Cupboard of Life
In the fifth book in the prodigiously successful series, traditionally built, eminently sensible Mma Precious Ramotswe continues her enterprise at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Gaborone, Botswana, a country that is indeed fortunate.

Still engaged to the estimable Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe understands that she should not put too much pressure on him, as he has other concerns, especially a hair-raising request from the ever persuasive Mma Potokwane, matron of the orphan farm. Besides Mma Ramotswe herself has weighty matters on her mind. She has been approached by a wealthy lady to check up on several suitors. Are these men interested in the lady or just her money? This may be a difficult case, but it's just the kind of problem Mma Ramotswe likes and she is, as we know, a very intuitive lady.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Precious is busier than usual at the detective agency when she discovers an intruder in her house on Zebra Drive—and perhaps even more baffling--a pumpkin on her porch. Her associate, Mma Makutsi, also has a full plate. She's taken up dance lessons, only to be partnered with a man with two left feet. And at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is already overburdened with work, one of his apprentices has run off with a wealthy older woman. But what finally rattles Mma Ramotswe’s normally unshakable composure is a visitor who forces her to confront a difficult secret from her past.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Here is the fifth novel in the internationally bestselling No. 1 Ladies? Detective Agency hit series. Once again we are transported to Gaborone, capital city of Botswana, and into the world of Mma Ramotswe and her friends.

THE NO. 1 LADIES? DETECTIVE AGENCY.
FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES.
UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT.

Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni are still engaged, but with no immediate plans to get married. Mma Ramotswe wonders when a wedding date will be named, but she is anxious to avoid putting pressure on her fiancé. For indeed he has other things on his mind -- particularly a frightening request (involving a parachute jump) made by Mma Potokwani, the persuasive matron of the orphan farm.

Mma Ramotswe herself has weighty matters on her mind. She has been approached by a wealthy lady to check up on several suitors. Are these men interested in her or just her money? This may be difficult to find out, but it?s just the kind of case Mma Ramotswe likes and she is, as we know, a very intuitive lady.

Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi -- plucky assistant detective and deputy manager of the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors garage -- is moving. Her entrepreneurial venture, the Kalahari Typing School for Men, is thriving and with this new income she has rented two rooms in a house. Her spare time is occupied with planning the move, the décor and her new life in a house with running water all to herself.

In the background of all this is Botswana, a country of empty spaces and echoing skies, a country so beautiful and entrancing that it breaks your heart. Mma Ramotswe has prepared the bush tea and is waiting for us to join her.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books:
“Reader, be warned: This is not your ordinary detective novel. . . . The Kalahari Typing School for Men maintains the breezy-to-read, gentle tone of Smith’s previous work, and leaves us wanting more adventures A.S.A.P.” -- The Globe and Mail

“[The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency] is a book one can read in one sitting. . . . The writing [is] very accessible, yet the prose so beautiful. . . . I choose books that give me pure joy, whose world I want to stay in for a long time.” -- Amy Tan, for the TODAY show book club

“In the course of her work, Mma Ramotswe offers ample evidence of her country’s complexities and contradictions. . . . Practical yet softhearted, inventive yet steeped in convention, Mma Ramotswe is an appealing personality. . . . Mma Ramotswe’s methods -- and her results -- are as unusual as the novels they inhabit.” -- The New York Times Book Review

“General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book [The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency] just as much if not more than mystery readers.” -- Publishers Weekly

“Smart and sassy. . . Precious’s progress is charted in passages that have the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once. . . . Thoroughly engaging and entertaining.” -- The Los Angeles Times

“[The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is] one of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years.” -- The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Large Print
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0739328298
• ISBN 13: 9780739328293
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704