Mma Ramotswe's normally unshakable composure is rattled when a visitor forces her to confront a secret from her past. In the newest addition to the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the charming and ever-resourceful Precious Ramotswe finds herself overly beset by problems. She is already busier than usual at the detective agency when added to her concerns are a strange intruder in her house on Zebra Drive and the baffling appearance of a pumpkin. And then there is Mma Makutsi, who decides to treat herself to dance lessons, only to be partnered with a man who seems to have two left feet. Nor are things running quite as smoothly as they usually do at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Mma Ramotswe’s husband, the estimable Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, is overburdened with work even before one of his apprentices runs off with a wealthy woman. But what finally rattles Mma Ramotswe’s normally unshakable composure is a visitor who forces her to confront a secret from her past. . . . All this unfolds against the sunlit background of Mma Ramotswe’s beloved homeland, Botswana–a land of empty spaces, echoing skies, and an endless supply of soothing bush tea.

The hilarious and moving story of one young woman's adventures in adulthood Eighteen-year-old Lizzie Vogel lands a job in a local dentist's office after answering a classified ad for a "mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues." The job comes with an apartment of her own, as well as an eccentric boss, a high-strung coworker, and the occasional call to perform light dentistry herself. It also provides Lizzie with an introduction to Andy Nicolello, young man of her dreams: handsome, kind, slightly indifferent. Lizzie seizes her chance to find love and soon begins calling him her boyfriend even though they have never so much as kissed or sat next to each other on the sofa. Navigating the new waters of adult life (conquering homesickness, learning to drive, hosting a dinner party, making bold-or tragic, depending on the viewer-fashion choices), Lizzie arrives at an unexpected, and unexpectedly moving, destination. Painfully funny, sharply...

Wayne Koestenbaum's first book of short fiction: a collection of whimsical, surreal, baroque, ribald, and heartbreaking fables.In Koestenbaum's first book of short fiction—a collection of whimsical, surreal, baroque, ribald, and heartbreaking fables—Koestenbaum takes the gloom and melancholy of our own terrifying political moment and finds subversive solace by overturning the customary protocols of tale-telling. Characters and narrators wander into strange locales; the difference between action and thinking, between reality and dream, grows moot in a heightened yet burlesque manner. The activities in The Cheerful Scapegoat are a cross between a comedy of manners and a Sadean orgy. Language has its own desires: figures of speech carry an erotic charge that straddles the line between slapstick and vertigo. Punishment hangs over every dialogue—but in the fable-world of The Cheerful Scapegoat, abjection comes with an undertaste of...

Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 – September 13, 1937) was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story "Pigs Is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating exponentially. His most famous character was Philo Gubb. His career spanned more than forty years, and his stories, poems, and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. His work appeared alongside that of his contemporaries, including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Despite the enormous volume of his work, Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. A founding member of both the Dutch Treat Club and the Author\'s League of America, Butler was an always-present force in the New York City literary scene.

This is a collection of cartoons and a long nursery rhyme for children. The cartoons involve mainly cats and other animals but the nursery rhyme is mainly about three little kittens. Cheerful illustrated cartoons about cats and other animals comprise the major part of this book. This is followed by "Three Little Kittens" which is an English language nursery rhyme. The rhyme can be seen as a cautionary tale involving the relationship between parents and children. The book includes about 60 illustrations. It is a pleasure to publish this new, high quality, and affordable edition.

Precious Ramotswe, that cheerful Botswanan private investigator of ‘traditional build’, 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 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 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…

Danger's afoot in Ashbrook, New Hampshire. People are dropping dead like flies ... and the local doctor's at the heart of the controversy. Members of a prominent local family keep dying and what at first seems like an unfortunate tragedy, starts seeming awfully suspicious to Beatrice Young and her good friend, the sheriff. Get ready to meet one of the most perplexing, twisted, and dangerous villains Beatrice Young and cats have ever seen. No one's safe from this happy-go-lucky murderer, for this person truly believes they're helping their patients—by delivering the kiss of death. Can Beatrice, Hamish, Lucky, and Petunia save their neighbors, without falling into this deadly poisoner's hands? The Paw-sitively Cheerful Poisoner is the seventh book in the Beatrice Young cozy cat mystery series. These books can be read in any order but are extra delightful when enjoyed in sequence.

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.