71. Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 13: 978-0-676-97624-3 - Random House, 2006
When Phuti Radiphuti asks his fiance Mma Makutsi if she is a feminist she replies, " Of course I am....These days most ladies are feminists. Did you not know that?" This question was prompted by a radio program on which Phuti heard a "feminist" talks about men being, "swept aside". As it turns out, he had nothing to worry about. But it made me wonder; is feminism dead? or are most women feminists today.
This 7th book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series offers insight into the different ways that men and women view relationships, marriage and the world around them.

70. The Wounded Deer: Fourteen poems after Frida Kahlo by Pascale Petit

ISBN 1-902382-75-7 - Smith/Doorstop Books, 2005
Pascale Petit assumes the perspective of Frida Kahlo and uses Kahlo's voice in fourteen poems each written about a significant painting.
It was interesting to read Petit's poetry after reading Kettenmann's biography of Kahlo which includes many of the paintings that inspired the poems. I purchased both of these books last October at the Lewes Live Literature Festival in England, after attending Petit's presentation.
"Pascale Petit was born in Paris, grew up in France and Wales and lives in London. In 2004 the Poetry Book Society and Arts Council named her as one of the Next Generation Poets. She has published three full-length poetry collections. Her last two, The Zoo Father (Seren, 2001) and The Huntress (Seren, 2005), were both shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and were both Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement."

69. Kahlo by Andrea Kettenmann

ISBN 3-8228-5983-4 - Taschen, 2003
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is probably best known for her exotic looking self portraits frequently in traditional Mexican dress with braided hair, like this one on the book's cover. This is because more than half of her works were self-portraits. When asked why this was the case, Kahlo replied, " I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."
Her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and ill health due to a traumatic bus accident and polio contracted in childhood have lead Kettenmann to subtitle the book Pain and Passion .

68. Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0-00-651259-3 - HarperCollins, 1968
Once again, Troy Alleyn is 'in situ' when a crime takes place. This time, a gang of international crooks is involved in forgery, robbery and murder. But which one of the river cruise boat Zodiac's passengers is the notorious ringleader nicknamed the 'Jampot'?
As is frequently the case in her mystery novels, Ngaio Marsh displays her interest and expertise in the art world.

67. A Busy Woman's Guide to Prayer:forget the guilt and find the gift by Cheri Fuller

ISBN 1-59145-321-6 - Integrity, 2005

Keele Street Christian Church's women's group has been using this book
as a study guide over the past few months.
It's not one of those books you read once and put back on the shelf.
There are many practical ideas to nurture your relationship with God and improve your prayer life.

66. Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0-00-651241-0 - Harper Collins, 1947

The Ancred family make it impossible for painter Agatha Troy Alleyn, (CDI Roderick Alleyn's wife) to refuse the commission of portrait of patriarch and Shakespearean actor Sir Henry Ancred, Bart for his 70th birthday. There is much "drama" at Ancreton Manor which largely revolves around the family's distaste for Sir Henry's fiance Miss Sonia Orrincourt.
If Araidne Oliver was Agatha Christie in her own novels, Troy Alleyn was Ngaio Marsh living vicariously.

65. The Villa of Reduced Circumstances by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-676-97681-6 - Random House, 2004
In this final book of the trilogy, von Igelfeld spends four months in at Cambridge University where he believes the country to be populated by eccentrics and becomes convinced that the British have no sense of humour.
When he goes to Colombia to accept an academic award, von Igelfeld gets involved in a military coup with bizarre consequences.

64. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-676-9780-8 - Random House, 2003

von Igelfeld's rivalry with fellow academic Unterholzer & his friendship with colleague Prinzel are heightened in this second book of the trilogy.
He lectures on a Mediterranean cruise and travels to Arkansas, Siena & Rome where he encounters the Duke of Johannesburg, the Patriarch of Alexandria and the Pope .

63. Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-676-97679-4 - Random House, 2003

Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, is an exceptionally tall German professor of philology (an older term for linguistics, and especially for the branch of linguistic study devoted to comparative and historical research into the development of languages).
In this first novel of the trilogy, The 2½ Pillars Of Wisdom von Igelfeld, a cross between Frasier Crane & Inspector Clouseau, travels to Ireland, Goa and Venice.

62. Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0-00-616465-X - William Collins & Sons, 1964

When Wally Trehern's warts are "miraculously" cured by the cascading waters of a natural spring, hundreds of visitors flock to the Cornish village of Portcarrow seeking similar results.
Agatha Christie is the undeniable queen of the classic whodunit, complex plots being her forte. In Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries, characters and the foibles of human behaviour take centre stage. Spinster shop owner Elspeth Cost and fresh-faced teacher Jenny Williams, visiting from New Zealand, are immediately recognizable and sympathetic.

61. Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc

Rediscovered and illustrated by Edward Gorey
ISBN 0-15-100715-2 - Harcourt Inc., 2002

Whimsical yet macabre rhymes that urge the reader to heed the warnings and obey the rules given by one's elders or else face dire consequences. Charmingly illustrated with Gorey's classic line drawings.

60. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-349-11742-x - Abacus, 2004

While following the silver Mercedes driven by apprentice Charlie's woman friend, Precious Ramotswe knocks a man off his bicycle with her tiny white van. The injured party eventually becomes quite an asset to both the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Mma Makutsi attends dancing class in the hopes of finding companionship.

59. The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-9544075-0-4 - Polygon, 2003
Mma Potokwani, matron of the orphan farm, plays a prominent role in this fifth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Detective Precious Ramotswe takes a case in which she has to find out whether a wealthy woman's four suitors are after her money or genuinely wish to marry her because they are in love. Mma Ramotswe finds out that people will ultimately make up their own minds whether or not to take the advice they have asked for.

58. The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0 349 11704 7 - Abacus, 2005

Mma Makutsi, assistant detective, becomes an entrepreneur when she opens the Kalahari Typing School for men. The No 1 Ladies' Detective agency faces competition when Cephas Buthelezi sets up shop in Gabarone. 'Ex-CID. Ex-New York. Ex-cellent' reads the sign outside the Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency. A man attacked by ostrich rustlers reviews his life and asks Mma Ramotswe to help him right the wrongs he committed as a young man.

57. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN-10: 0349117004 - Abacus, 2003
Cases include: a strange boy that seems to have been raised by lions, a government man who believes his sister-in-law is trying to poison his brother and a beauty pageant organizer who questions the morality of his contestants.

56.Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 0-349-11665-2 - Abacus, 2000

Mma Ramwotse solves many cases for her diverse clientel. She also becomes engaged to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, Botswana's No. 1 mechanic.
Her secretary, Mma Makutsi gets promoted to assistant detective and takes on a case of her own.

55. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Precious Ramotswe who lives in Gaborone, a small town in Botswana, describes herself as, "a traditionally-built African woman". When her father passes away he leaves her, his only child, enough money to buy a house and start up a business. Instead of opening a shop, Mma Ramotswe decides to start a detective agency. She's got all the qualities of an excellent detective: resourcefulness, wisdom, courage, compassion and above all she's nosey.

54. The White Witch of Rosehall by Herbert G. de Lisser

ISBN 0 519-19904-6 - Ernest Benn Limited, 1929

Annie Palmer is petite, enchantingly beautiful, wealthy woman. She is also a cruel slave master of the Rosehall and Palmyra planations and rumour has it she is responsible for the untimely deaths of her three husbands. Legend says she has evil, supernatural powers practices Obeah and/or Voodoo.
While Rosehall and Palmyra certainly do exist there is little evidence that Annie Palmer did. The book, however, provides interesting insights into the social structure of Jamaica both in 1831, when the novel is set and in 1929 when it was written. Historically, de Lisser's account of the The Baptist War also known as the Christmas Uprising and the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831.

53. Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild

ISBN-13: 978-0-618-61907-8 - Houghton Mifflin, 2005

Hochschild has written a compelling account of the abolition movement in Eighteenth Century Britain that paradoxically manages to be scholarly and readable at the same time. In contrast to the recent film Amazing Grace, Hochschild doesn't glamourize William Wilberforce or overstate his role in the campaign to stop the slave trade in the British Empire which lasted nearly fifty years.

52. Swing Brother Swing by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0 00 613394 0 - 1949

Published in the USA as A Wreath for Rivera, this Roderick Alleyn mystery is full of interesting characters which include the eccentric Lord Pastern & Bagot, who flits from one obsession to another, and the handsome, womanizing accordionist Carlos Rivera.

When a theatrical stunt performed during a swing band concert goes wrong, Alleyn sifts through clues (which include a pair of pistols, an ornate French parasol and a silver pencil)to solve the murder.