New in paperback. The seventh book in the phenomenally popular, successful and much loved No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series More adventures for Precious Ramotswe and her fine assistant Mma Makutsi, including an encounter with a cobra, a sinister blackmail plot, a rather tight-fitting pair of blue shoes, as well as plenty more bush tea and Botswana skies. 233pp, UK. POLYGON.

The main story deals with origins, sexuality and love. Also included seven short pieces written in Botswana, Earth and Everything, Africa, My Home, A Personal View of the Survival of the Unfittest, Where is the Hour of the Beautiful Dancing of Birds in the Sun Wind, Poor Man and Earth Love. 141pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

They find the first body near a waterhole considered magical by the local bush people. A string of clues suggests that the victim was murdered and his identity hidden. For Assistant Superintendent David Kubu Bengu, it's obvious from the start that sinister forces are at work. A convivial figure on the surface, Kubu is a clever and resourceful lawman, well-versed in Botswana's deadliest secrets. As he follows a blood-soaked trail he uncovers a chain of crimes linked to the most powerful figures in the country - influential enemies who will stop at nothing to remove those who stand in their way. 384pp, UK. HEADLINE.

A evocative and poignant collection of short stories describing the different strands of life in a rural village in Botswana. 109pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

A collection of short stories describing everyday life in Southern Africa, capturing the casual or determined oppression of men and women and the delightful tenderness of human affection. 121pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS.

1995 0435909711 Paperback

Second in the crime series featuring the opera-loving wine connoisseur Assistant Superinten-dant David 'Kubu' Bengu of the Botswana Police Force. Goodluck Tinubu, an ex-Zimbabwean who has taught in Botswana for many years, is viciously murdered at the Jackalberry bush camp, situated on an isolated peninsula in northern Botswana. Peter Sithole, a guest at the camp, is found bludgeoned to death a few hours later. Bengu is sent from Gaborone to assist the local CID in this puzzling investigation. 384pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

Novel about a casino manager who is sent on a wild goose chase from Gabarone to Cape Town. 318pp, BOTSWANA. LIMITED STOCK. PULA PRESS.

New in paperback. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are called to a safari lodge in Botswana's Okavango Delta to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. The Okavango makes Precious appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland: it is a paradise of teeming wildlife, majestic grasslands and sparkling water. However, it is also home to rival safari operators, fearsome crocodiles and disgruntled hippopotamuses. What's more, Mma Makutsi still does not have a date for her wedding to Phuti Radiphuti and is feeling rather tetchy herself. But Precious knows that with a little patience, just as the wide river will gently make its way round any obstacle, so will everything work out for the best in the end. 256pp, UK. ABACUS.

Tensions of cultural change, inequality and AIDS all feature strongly in this novel by Botswana's first female High Court judge. vi, 199pp, AUSTRALIA. SPINIFEX PRESS, 1876756071

New edition. The fifth novel in the enchanting series of books about Mma Ramotswe and her detective agency. Set once again in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, the agency has new challenges and mysteries to solve. 202pp, UK. ABACUS, 034911725X

First published in 1989 as Children of Wax, this collection of folktales and animal fables from Zimbabwe and Botswana has been republished with a new foreword by Mma Ramotswe. Includes the stories 'Sister of Bones', 'Hare Fools the Baboons', 'The Wife Who Could Not Work' and 'Bad Uncles'. 174pp, UK. CANONGATE, 1841955302

New in paperback. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni becomes involved in the agency's work when he investigates an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as competently as one of the ladies? Mma Ramotswe has her doubts. One thing, though, that she does not doubt is the good nature of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world. Eighth Mma Ramotswe novel. 240pp, UK. ABACUS.

Set in Botswana, these short stories trace the lives of characters whose paths cross and re-cross each others, some times in and through love, at other times through tragedy. And through them the author brings to bear a woman's perspective on the societal mores in which sexual abuse, homophobia and AIDS, among others, flourish and spread. 130pp, SOUTH AFRICA. MODJAJI BOOKS.

Unity Dows fourth novel is peopled as much by wronged and oppressed women as it is with reckless men and an oppressive justice system. 191pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DOUBLE STOREY.

Now in paperback. The sixth book in the best selling series of books about Mma Ramotswe and her detective agency. Precious Ramotswe is now married to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Life, however is busy as disagreements flare up between Mma Makutsi and one of the apprentices at the garage, a close encounter occurs between the tiny white van and a bicycle and a woman with a tale of particular misfortune pleads for help. 264pp, UK. ABACUS.

The sixth book in the best selling series of books about Mma Ramotswe and her detective agency. Precious Ramotswe is now married to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Life, however is busy as disagreements flare up between Mma Makutsi and one of the apprentices at the garage, a close encounter occurs between the tiny white van and a bicycle and a woman with a tale of particular misfortune pleads for help. 264pp, UK. POLYGON.

Fictionalised account of a 13-year-old South African girl's abuse at the hands of her own father. BOTSWANA, PULA PRESS.

2007 9789991245614 Paperback

The third novel by Unity Dow, telling the story of Monei Ntuka, a young girl growing up in the village of Mochudi in Botswana during the late 1960s. 173pp, AUSTRALIA. SPINIFEX PRESS, 1876756381

New edition. The fourth novel in the author's widdely acclaimed No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. When the agency opens a much-needed typing school for men, things become complicated. 204pp, UK. ABACUS.

Collects Head's short fiction of the 1960s and 1970s, written mainly in Serowe, Botswana, and depicting the lives and loves of African village people pre- and post-independence. An earlier selection, 'Tales of Tenderness and Power', was published in the Heinemann African Writers Series in 1990, but this expanded and updated volume adds many previously unavailable stories collected here for the first time. 176pp, UK.HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

A love story set in rural Botswana. 128pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

INew in paperback. It has never occurred to Precious Ramotswe that there may be disadvan-tages to being the best-known lady detective in Botswana. But when she receives a threatening anonymous letter, she is compelled to reconsider her unconquerable belief in a kind world and good neighbours. 256pp, UK. ABACUS.

New Edition. Sequel to The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Tears of the Giraffe, where the chief protagonist Precious Ramotswe expands her business to take in car repairs and a beauty pageant. 225pp, UK. ABACUS.

Set in Botswana, this is the last in the triology of the award winning author's exploration of western presence in Southern Africa. It tells the stories of three expat Americans, whose actions involve them with CIA plots and local insurrections. Gloss, maps, 715pp, UK. VINTAGE.

New Edition. A sassy heroine sets up shop in Gaborone, Botswana, specialising in tracking down missing husbands, wayward daughters, conmen and imposters. Here she becomes involved in the search for a missing child, putting herself in danger. 250pp, UK. ABACUS.

The first four volumes in a slip case:

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Tears of the Giraffe

Morality for Beautiful Girls

The Kalahari Typing School for Men

Save nearly £6.00 on the four individual volumes

Novelist and short story writer, Head's work has been characterised by her turbulent early life. Born to a white mother and a black father in Pietermaritzberg in 1937, she grew up in foster care and in an Anglican orphanage. She left South Africa during the 1960s, after the break up of her marriage, and was declared a refugee in Botswana. Despite her unsettled existence there, her literary life is in Botswana. All her novels have autobiographical aspects but 'A Question of Power' is conspicuously based on her own experiences. The main character, Elisabeth, suffers a mental breakdown having left South Africa for Botswana. The narrative is based on the characters internal experiences and decent into madness. This is set against the ordinary action of a village in Botswana. 206pp, UK HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

As the countdown to Mma Makutsi's wedding begins, all is not as it should be at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. While investigating unpleasant occurrences on a southern cattle-post, Mma Ramotswe, always on the side of the weak against the strong, has reason to reflect on Rule No.3 of The Principles of Private Detection: never lie to the client. Apprentice mechanic Charlie seems to be avoiding certain important responsibilities. And as Mma Makutsi's big day approaches, her nemesis Violet Sephotho is casting her net wider: by standing for election which could spell trouble for the entire nation. But as friends and family gather under starry African night skies, it turns out that even the most perplex-ing of apparitions - and the most shocking of crimes - may yield to rational explanation. And, of course, to Mma Ramotswe's inimitable way with love, intuition and redbush tea. 256pp, UK. LITTLE BROWN.

One afternoon, a twelve year old girl goes missing near her village. The local police tell her mother she's been taken by wild animals. Five years later, a young government employee Amantle Bokaa finds a box bearing the label Neo Kakang: CRB 45/47. It contains evidence of human involvement in the affair. So begins an undercover struggle for justice and retribution. 215pp, AUSTRALIA. SPINIFEX PRESS, 1876756209

New edition. Following the success of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, this latest novel takes us further into the life of the engaging and sassy Precious Ramotswe, the owner and detective of Botswana's only Ladies' detective agency. 'So elegant and understated is the author's style that the novel seems to transcend age ... delightful.' Trevor Royle. 217pp. UK. ABACUS.

Now in paperback. It is a troublesome fact on which even Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi agree: there are things that men know and ladies do not, and vice versa. It is unfortunate, for example, when Mma Ramotswe's newest client is the big-shot owner of the ailing Kalahari Swoopers, that one thing lady detectives know very little about is football. And when the glamorous Violet Sephotho sets her sights on Mma Makutsi's unsuspecting fiance, it becomes exasperatingly clear that some men do not know how to recognise a ruthless Jezebel even when she is bouncing up and down on the best bed in the Double Comfort Furniture Shop. 272p, UK. ABACUS.

New edition of these two classic texts with an introduction by Helen Oyeyemi. 352pp, UK. VIRAGO.

South African exiles living in Botswana work to develop new agricultural methods, and bring other changes. 200pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.