To the casual observer, the city of Edinburgh, home of no-nonsense philosophers and cream teas, might appear immune to the rollercoaster of strong emotions. But at 44 Scotland Street, as Matthew and Elspeth embark on the risky enterprise of married love, the raffish portrait painter Angus Lordie has a premonition of disaster.

With a failed marriage behind her, La (short for Lavender) moves to the Suffolk countryside on the eve of the Second World War to nurse her broken heart. Lonely and at a loss, she is encouraged to bring the villagers and the men from the local airbase together by forming an amateur orchestra. Soon her feelings are stirring again.

Isabel Dalhousie is drawn into the investigation when an anonymous letter arrives at a local boarding school suggesting that one of the shortlisted candidates for the position of headmaster has a compromising past. But which one is it? She turns to her fiance Jamie for advice, but he too appears to have something to hide."

* Mma Ramotswe's twelfth adventure

Mma Ramotswe, normally a sound and peaceful sleeper, finds her slumbers disturbed by a dream of a tall man beneath an acacia tree. But she is not quite ready to discover what this vision may portend. Soon even Mma Makutsi, now in the first flush of married bliss, has to admit that untoward things are occuring around the agency.

The story of Bertie & his dysfunctional family continues in this sixth instalment alongside the familiar cast of favourites - Big Lou, Domenica, Angus Lordie, Cyril & others - in their daily pursuit of a little happiness.

Welcome to Corduroy Mansions in Pimlico, a temple of arts and crafts architecture. With comforting, weathered brickwork and frankly frivolous dormer windows, it is home to a delightfully eccentric cast of Londoners.

* The third novel in the London-based Corduroy Mansions series from Alexander McCall Smith, comparable in warmth and humour to 44 Scotland Street

Happy with her husband-to-be and beloved son, Isabel Dalhousie has feelings about parenthood that grow more tender daily. So when Jane, a visiting academic adopted and sent to Australia as a baby, asks for help in tracing her Scottish origins, she cannot refuse. However, habitually upright Isabel finds herself beset by temptation - for instance, to be suspicious of Professor Lettuce's latest subterfuge, and of her niece Cat's weakness for the wrong man. And when the search for Jane's parents turns troubling, she can hardly prevent herself from interfering too forcefully in family secrets. As...

As a mother, wife, employer and editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, Isabel Dalhousie is aware that to be human is to be responsible. So when a neighbour brings her a new and potentially dangerous puzzle to solve, once again Isabel feels she has no option but to shoulder the burden. A masterpiece painting has been stolen from Duncan Munrowe, old-fashioned philanthropist, father to two discontented children, and a very wealthy man. As Isabel enters into negotiations with the shadowy figures who are in search of a ransom, a case where heroes and villains should be clearly defined turns...