Welcome to the extraordinary world of Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, an unnaturally tall and memorable character whose sublime insouciance is a blend of the cultivated pomposity of Frasier Crane and Inspector Clouseau’s hapless gaucherie. Von Igelfeld inhabits the rarefied world of the Institute of Romance Philology at Regensburg, which he shares with his equally tall and equally ridiculous colleagues, Professors Florianus Prinzel and Detleve Amadeus Unterholzer.

          We follow von Igelfeld from his student days, through his search for ancient Irish obscenities to an aching infatuation with a dentist fatale and a Venetian sojourn. Among the Ozark mountains of Arkansas, von Igelfeld is dogged by dachshunds, and aboard a Mediterranean cruise ship he quickly finds himself the star attraction.

          About The Author: About the Author Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law at Edinburgh University. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is the author of over fifty books on a wide range of subjects, including specialist titles such as Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, children’s books such as The Perfect Hamburger, and a collection of stories called Portuguese Irregular Verbs. His book The Lost Art of Gratitude made The New York Times Bestseller list for 2010. His series entitled The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is popular worldwide.