The first tale in Alexander McCall Smith's cozy mystery series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by London's Times Literary Supplement. The agency at first consists of one woman: the charismatic Mma Precious Ramotswe ("the Miss Marple of Botswana"—NYTBR), who specializes in rooting out missing husbands and wayward daughters, con men and imposters. "The author's prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. His descriptions leave one as if standing in the Botswana landscape. This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

Under the endless skies of Botswana, there is always something Precious Ramotswe can do to help someone, and in this ninth story of the series (after The Good Husband of Zebra Drive), she hopes to help a woman looking for her family—only the woman doesn't know her real name, or whether any of her family members are still alive. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi receives a beautiful new bed that causes more than a few sleepless nights. And Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has come under the influence of a doctor promising a miracle cure for his daughter's medical condition.