LITERATURE + LECTURES

Brazos Bookstore is pleased to welcome author Alexander McCall Smith for an in-store appearance on Monday, April 4, 2011, starting at 6:30 PM where he will read from and sign the latest installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party. 

The twelfth installment in the beloved, best-selling series is once again a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a pro­foundly touching tale of the human heart. Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a dream in which she is driving her dear old white van. Grace Makutsi dreams that her 97 percent on the Botswana Secretarial College exam was a mistake. When Mma Ra­motswe discovers that her van is actually still in use (and, of course, sets out to retrieve it), Mma Makutsi wonders whether her dream will turn out to be prophetic as well.

They can only wait and see, but, in the meantime, one of Phuti Radiphuti’s apprentices has gotten a girl pregnant and, under pressure to marry her, has run away. Naturally, it is up to Precious and Grace to help the couple work things out. In other developments, Mma Ramotswe investigates a case of rural jealousy in which cattle are being poisoned. Add to the mix Violet Sephotho’s newly begun, already unstoppable run for the Botswana Parliament and the possibility that wedding bells may finally ring for Phuti Radiphuti and Grace Makutsi — whose love for each other is as great as their love for Botswana — and we have a charming and delightful tale in the inimitable style of Alexander McCall Smith.

About the author: Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland.

Can't make it to the signing? Tickets are on sale for Murder by the Book's Mystery Author Luncheon Event with Alexander McCall Smith the following morning, Tuesday, April 5, 11 AM.