by Alexander McCall Smith (2003)
In 1999 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency received two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations and was voted one of the ‘International Books of the Year and the Millennium' by the Times Literary Supplement. Tears of the Giraffe takes us further into the life of the engaging and sassy Precious Ramotswe, the owner and detective of Botswana's only Ladies' detective agency. Among her cases are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids and a challenge to resolve a mother's pain for her son, who is long lost on the African plains. Mma Ramotswe's own impending marriage to that most gentlemanly of men, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, the promotion of her secretary to the dizzy heights of Assistant Detective and new additions to the Matekoni family, all brew up the most humorous and charmingly entertaining of tales.
Elizabeth Gunn
Ambitious Tucson police detective Sarah Burke, still smarting from a painful divorce, tries to concentrate on a body found in a parking lot. The case takes a bizarre turn when Sarah's young niece, neglected by her substance-abusing mother, disappears. The search is complicated by interference from the drug ring the suspected murderers had been working for, and Sarah's romantic interest in a troubled colleague rebuilding his life after injury.
Leigh Russell
A glamorous young TV soap star dies in a car crash. Returning for her sixth case, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is baffled as the driver of the second vehicle miraculously survives - and vanishes. Another young actress is murdered and, once again, the killer mysteriously disappears. Geraldine unwittingly risks her sergeant's life in their struggle to track down a serial killer who leaves no clues.
Kjell Eriksson
Sven-Arne Persson suddenly walks out of a business meeting and disappears. Inspector Ann Lindell is investigating the discovery of a dismembered foot washed up on the beach. Berglunds is delving into a cold case. What connects the three?
John R. Erickson
Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, and assistant deputy Drover engage in an epic battle with the coyotes, Rip and Snort, as they all seek some meaty treats.