1 Ladies' Detective Agency Study Guide contains comprehensive summaries and analysis of the book. This study guide includes a detailed Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Character Descriptions, Objects/Places, Themes, Styles, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

    It is #25 in their Mysterious Profiles" series. In this book, Jacqueline Winspear tells about the "origins" of Maisie Dobbs, the heroine of her popular mystery series. This booklet is NOT to be confused with her full-length mystery with the same title.

    Here, genteel dinner parties hide murderers; sparkling balls harbour dastardly villains; and every light society conversation hints at a darker scandal.The Earl of Calaway and his wife, Adelia, have raised and married off seven daughters. Now free of domestic duties, they are building an enterprise as private detectives of a very personal nature, guaranteeing to keep aristocratic reputations intact.In this short story, which can be read at any point in the series of full-length novels, Adelia and Theodore are invited to the trouble-ridden parish of Peverham where the local vicar is convinced that the death of Sir Phileas Hinge was no accident.After all, so many people wanted him dead. Sir Phileas’s ancestral home of Pever House is now occupied by the bombastic Vice Admiral Frankhaus, and both men hated each other. Then there are the Smiths – the oldest and most established family in the area – who look down on everyone else as being merely shabby new money. All three families – the Hinges, the Frankhauses and the Smiths – are vying for control of the parish, and this comes to a head when the vicar asks for money for a new bell in the church. Each family wants to be the one who contributes the most and to have the bell inscribed with their name for all time.The death of Hinge removes one of the players – but who will be next? Theodore and Adelia race to discover the murderer before death strikes again.This book is written in British English by an actual Brit who used to have to curtsey to the local aristocrat from “the big house” when she visited the village school at Christmas. The spelling and grammar is British English throughout. Splendid!

     Rookie Bear Puma shifter Stephanie Page can’t find a mate. Tired of waiting, Stephanie takes a Christmas cruise to the Caribbean. Meeting Stephanie interrupts Max’s mission and changes everything for the shell shocked shifter. Can Max save the girl, save the day, and learn to let himself be loved? Fly Bear Fly Bear, Rider Hendrix, is a decorated military pilot working with the Justice Squad. As dare devil and risk taker, Rider never thought he wanted a mate. Then a close call changes everything. Darcy Lane worked her way up from nothing to head chef at a top Denver restaurant. No matter how far she’s come, the insecurities of her past run deeper than her freckled skin. will Darcy ever come to understand that the beauty Rider wants to see is what shines so brightly from within? Bodyguard Bear Titus Sawyer has a secret. He's lived his whole life building a tough guy facade, but underneath the bulging muscles, he couldn't be more different. Arabella Fernandez built her career as a pop star on sexy, sultry songs, but the truth behind the mask is far more innocent than anyone could imagine. Will Titus and Arabella find their happily ever after, or will their secrets keep them apart as danger looms from every side. C.O. Bear Colonel Hawk Barlow has been waiting many years for his mate. But when he goes undercover on the most important mission of his career, he can't let anything distract him. Elena has no illusions about what her mobster father does, but she is ready to move on with her life, find a man, settle down to start a family. Will Hawk be able to protect her from the looming threat, or will Elena's doubt be disastrous for them all? Brainy Bear Sampson Reed is on a mission: take down the hacker who is the last stand between the Justice Squad and the remaining hyena terrorists. But Sampson is in for a surprise when a social worker knocks at his door with a two-year-old boy she claims is his nephew. Megan Moore is on a mission of her own: take down the man who destroyed her sister. Will Sampson complete his mission and claim his mate, or will Megan's need for vengeance keep them apart and destroy their chance at happiness? Builder Bear Jamison Stone has been waiting for his mate for ten long years. With the Justice Squad on down time, he will have to occupy himself with a new real estate project. Romance author Ruby Wilson never expected to be left at the altar. But the most humiliating moment of her life might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Jamison and Ruby are both surprised to find the person they've been matched with on a shifter dating app show up at the same property at the same moment. But Ruby wants nothing to do with the handsome real estate developer who could take her farmhouse from her. Will Jamison be able to prove to Ruby he is the man she really wants, or will the pain of her past prove too big a hurdle for even the spirit of Christmas to overcome? Sly Bear Zander Shaw isn’t expecting murder for New Year's, but as a consultant for law enforcement, that's exactly what he gets. Running scared and chased by a killer, Emma falls down a cliff only to wake without memory of who she is or how she got there. Will Emma recover her memories so that she and Zander can find their happily ever after? Or will the killer find her first?

    Literally. A woman on the run from a minor Egyptian Demon? Um…what?With his father ailing, normally Jasper would pass on this one, but then he gets a look at her. How can he resist the owner of those flashing blue eyes?Carolina Moore is in danger, but who can she trust when an ancient Egyptian Demon has decided she is his property and will stop at nothing to claim her?Recently divorced, she’d just returned from a trip to Egypt where she’d spent time on an archeological dig with a student group as a guest lecturer with an unfortunate souvenir, mainly a Demon who wants her for his own.Luckily, she is friends with Jennifer Dylluan who assigns her a guard from the Wyvern Protection Unit. But what happens when her protector poses more of a threat to her than the person she was running from?

    YOU GET *FIVE* CRIME THRILLERS FULL OF TWISTS AND EDGE OF YOUR SEAT TENSION.What readers are saying about STEVE PARKER“A must read for all crime thriller fans.” Viv“A really good thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat.” Barbara“I was up until 2am as I couldn’t read it quick enough.” Carole“The differences between the two detectives works so well ... they are so much alike ... but yet are miles apart in others” Linda Strong“I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I was hooked right from the start.” Sue“A fast-moving action-packed thriller which will keep you enthralled from page one.”“Another gripping, fast-paced and twisted caper for the most unorthodox police duo in UK fiction.” Donna“Loved the book, Clocks makes me laugh out loud.” AileenDO YOU LOVE EXPLOSIVE UNPUTDOWNABLE CRIME FICTION? THEN MEET DETECTIVES PATERSON AND CLOCKS. THIS DUO ARE IRREVERENT, IMPULSIVE, AND ALWAYS FULL OF SURPRISES.IN THIS FIVE-BOOK BOX SETBOOK 1: THEIR LAST WORDSA young woman is found dead on the streets of London. Her throat slashed, her body mutilated, and one word carved into her flesh: “DON’T.” Detective Superintendent Ray Paterson is assigned to the case. Young, handsome, and from a wealthy background, he’s tipped for the top. He joins a team based out of Bermondsey, South London. It’s meant to be a steppingstone to his next promotion, but this case will threaten to bring down his career and everything he thought he knew about policing.BOOK 2: DEADLY CRIMESAn elderly African man is found dead in the street, shot through the head. The killing has the hallmarks of a professional assassin. Dumped in a waste bin next to the dead man is the dismembered torso of a child. On his first day back at work, disgraced Detective Superintendent Ray Paterson finds himself teamed up again with newly promoted Detective Inspector Johnny Clocks.BOOK 3: THE BURNING MENA man is burnt at the stake in a London park. His smouldering corpse is a message of the most violent kind. The victim is Davey Caine. He is the heir to the criminal empire created by his father, William ‘Billy’ Caine. Billy is a notorious and violent gangster who controls South East London. But he’s not the man he used to be and the sharks smell blood in the water.BOOK 4: YOU CAN’T HIDEAlbert Tanner, vicious psychopath and burner of men, is in the USA with unfinished business. Only Detectives Ray Paterson and Johnny Clocks can stop him. Their task is straightforward: hunt Tanner down and bring him home. But a few explosions, an assassin and a dead child change everything.BOOK 5: THEIR DYING BREATHA severed head washes up on the banks of the Thames, a star carved into the forehead. The next day the airwaves are hacked. A live-stream shows a man imprisoned in a box. He also has a star cut into his head. Then the man is drowned. Two more men are murdered on live TV, two more will die within hours. Detectives Paterson and Clocks race against time to ensure their next breath isn’t their last. But this enemy is far more deadly than any they’ve encountered before.THE DETECTIVESDetective Superintendent Ray Paterson is a young and (thanks to family money) wealthy womaniser, separated from his model wife and tipped to be the youngest ever commissioner of police. Detective Inspector Johnny Clocks is a foul-mouthed, working-class officer. He grew up surrounded by rogues and villains but became a first-class thief taker.THE AUTHORSteve Parker is a retired police officer who served for 20 years in numerous high-profiles squads.Don’t miss out on this action-packed series! YOU GET ALL FIVE OF THE ABOVE BOOKS IN THIS EDITION

    Enthusiastic to the point of being absurd, Charlie is gung-ho about her position with the Legacy Foundation, a group that travels the world looking to solve the unexplained and prove the existence of the paranormal. From one coast to the next, she (along with her merry band of misfits) investigates strange and odd phenomena … all the while pretending she’s a normal human being without magical to call on. It’s a big secret, and she’s determined to keep it … even as she grows closer and closer with her co-workers. This three-book omnibus includes: The Megalodon Mix-Up, The Undead Uproar and The Incubus Impasse.

    This special boxed set offers the first three full-length novels in the series. Each book is filled with Barbara Freethy's unique blend of page-turning romance, family and mystery—unforgettable stories that will touch your heart. ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS: The second oldest of the Callaway clan, Aiden Callaway veered from the family tradition of urban firefighting and became a smokejumper, never questioning his choice until the job took the life of his friend, Kyle, and left Aiden with injuries and fractured memories. Everyone blames Aiden for what happened, but he doesn't remember, nor is he sure he wants to remember. The truth may clear Aiden of blame but destroy Kyle's reputation and hurt the people he left behind. 
 Aiden seeks help from an unlikely ally. Sara had always been untouchable, sweet, innocent, his sister's best friend, and the girl next door. But one reckless night in their youth took their relationship to a new level. Sara has never forgiven or forgotten the way Aiden brought it crashing down, but she's no longer that girl with the crazy crush. She's a woman in search of her own truth. The sparks between Aiden and Sara have been smoldering for a very long time. Sara is afraid to take another chance on a man who broke her heart, and Aiden knows better than anyone how dangerous an intense fire can be. As teenagers they weren't ready for each other. Are they ready now? SO THIS IS LOVE: Emma Callaway, a hot fire investigator clashes with Max Harrison, a cool homicide detective in SO THIS IS LOVE, the second book in the Callaway Series. For Max Harrison, love seduces and then destroys. His brother went to prison for love. His father left his family for love. And Max is determined not to follow in their footsteps, until he meets Emma… Emma runs into burning buildings without an ounce of fear and embraces life as if every day is a new adventure. But while she's fearless on the job, Emma is a coward when it comes to love. Betrayed by an ex-boyfriend, Emma has no intention of putting her heart on the line again, until she meets Max… As the fires around the city rage, the heat between them ignites in a blaze of passion that's far more dangerous. Will it destroy them or will they finally get everything they ever wanted… FALLING FOR A STRANGER Ria is as sexy and sultry as a warm tropical night and as beautifully dangerous as the island drinks she serves at the beachside bar on Isla de los Suenos -- The Island of Dreams. But Ria is not as carefree as she appears, and the pretense is wearing her down. One night she risks everything to escape from reality. Drew Callaway is a former Navy pilot looking for his own escape from a life that has seen too much tragedy. Meeting Ria is like embracing the sun, and their single night together is life-changing. But the dream quickly fades when Ria is killed in a tragic accident at sea. Months later, thousands of miles away from where they first met, Drew sees a woman who looks just like Ria. She claims her name is Tory, and that they've never met before, but he can see that she's in trouble, and he can't walk away. He's going to save her whether she wants it or not. Drew isn't afraid of a little danger, but can he risk losing his heart to a beautiful stranger? Also Available in the Callaway Series: Between Now and Forever (#4) Nobody But You (A Callaway Wedding Novella) All A Heart Needs (#5) That Summer Night (#6) W

    Zach Forsythe, billionaire resort owner, was the man she’d had a week-long affair with. Why had Zach lied about his name and left her without a word?Valente’s Baby Maxine Sullivan For Matthew Valente, paternity trumped everything. Never mind that his ex-employee Lana had kept his baby a secret for nearly a year or that he considered her a liar and a thief. Their child would bear the Valente name…and so would she!

    

    Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped--and the most dangerous game of all begins.... After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill--or be killed. Lisa Gardner sold her first novel when she was 20 years old. In 1993 she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in international relations. She lives in Rhode Island, where she is at work on her next novel of suspense.

    1 bestselling crime series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV’s much loved WIRE IN THE BLOOD.THE MERMAIDS SINGINGUp till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different – this one’s on the loose.Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But soon Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive.THE WIRE IN THE BLOODYoung girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind.Dr Tony Hill, head of the new National Profiling Task Force, sets his team an exercise: they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover any possible links between the cases. Only one officer comes up with a theory – a theory that is ridiculed by the group … until one of their number is murdered and mutilated.For Tony Hill, the murder becomes a matter for personal revenge and, joined by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism – a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.THE LAST TEMPTATIONA twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe.Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home…Meanwhile, his former partner DCI Carol Jordan is working undercover in Berlin, on a dangerous operation to trap a millionaire trafficker. When the game turns nasty, Tony is the only person she can call on for help.Confronting a cruelty that has its roots in Nazi atrocities, Tony and Carol are thrown together in a world of violence and corruption, where they have no one to trust but each other.

    Dead MenFormer SAS trooper turned undercover cop Dan Spider Shepherd knows there are no easy solutions in the war against terrorism. But when a killer starts to target pardoned IRA terrorists, Shepherd has to put his life on the line to protect his former enemies; and as a Muslim assassin closes in on his prey, Shepherd realises that the only way to save lives is to become a killer himself. Live FireDan 'Spider' Shepherd is infiltrating a tightly-knit team of bank robbers, when a group of home-grown Islamic fundamentalist fanatics embark on a campaign of terror the like of which Britain has never seen. Car bombs and beheadings are only the prelude of what they have planned. And Shepherd is the only man who can stop them. Rough JusticeVillains across London are being beaten, crippled and killed by vigilante cops. Crime rates are falling, but the powers that be want Dan 'Spider' Shepherd to bring the wave of rough justice to an end. Shepherd has always known that there are grey areas in the fight against crime, and that sometimes justice gets lost in the process. But when his own family is brought into the firing line, Shepherd has some hard decisions of his own to make.

    Merwin --Magic barrel / Bernard Malamud --About marriage / Denise Levertov --from Jane Austen / Virginia Woolf --Princess and the tin box / James Thurber.

    Includes, TEAGUE, GRACE, & COOPER, in one great boxed set! TEAGUE Teague Simon is a man at a crossroads. He’s no good around people and spending time alone at the family cottage will hopefully ease his burden. What he doesn’t need is the woman next door poking around his business making things worse. And what he really doesn’t need are her two young children in his face. How can they help slay the demons that haunt him? Sabrina Campbell is barely surviving and doing everything that she can to hide that fact. She takes care of her kids and keeps herself busy. She’s not looking for anything other than the chance to forget. But when Teague Simon shows up, looking as haunted as she is, she’s drawn to his pain. His loneliness. She knows his scars run deep, but so do hers. She should stay away and yet she can’t. Can these two broken souls somehow heal each other? GRACE When love and pain collide, all bets are off… Grace Simon is a fixer. But fixing the men in her life has led to more heartbreak than she cares to admit to. She should know by now that some men are damaged for life. Yet Matt Hawkins awakes in her such a need to connect that it can’t be denied. Risking her heart might be the only way to help him, but it could also be the one heartbreak she will never get over… Matt Hawkins has never learned to deal with his painful past. He uses booze and women to forget and he sure as hell knows that ‘forever’ isn’t in his future. He’s no good for a rich girl like Grace Simon. Yet he can’t deny the powerful attraction between them and his desire to be with her. Does he push her away knowing he’ll only hurt her? Or does he take a chance and hope that she’s the key to slaying his demons… He runs, she hides. No one can do it forever… COOPER Most of America think they have Cooper Simon figured out–he’s the playboy with no morals and a taste for married women. Cooper’s fine with that because he’s got secrets he’d rather keep buried. Who knew that spending a few months in Fisherman’s Landing would screw with his head. Or meeting a woman unlike any he’s met before, would be the key to unraveling all of his secrets…and maybe his heart. After a horrific accident Morgan Campbell is grateful to be alive. So what if her life didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to? She lives quietly and keeps to herself. But meeting the most arrogant, infuriating, and sexy man will turn her world upside down. Because not only is Cooper Simon out of her league, he’d never be interested in someone like her. Can she be brave enough to step out of the box and reclaim the woman she once was? Or is she doomed to live in the shadows forever…