Introduction: A collection of offbeat stories about dating and love. The author's fondness for globetrotting settings is once again in evidence, with the tales taking place in various European countries, Australia, and, of course, southern Africa (the mysteries are set in Botswana). Some of the stories are curiously peculiar (in "Nice Little Date," a rock star, intending to seduce a teenage girl, finds instead she's a boy); some are darkly funny (in "Far North," a date goes so awry that the guy's death is a relief, even it means the woman goes to jail); but all of them remind us of why dating is such a precarious endeavor. Smith's characters possess the quirkiness of Hiaasen creations; just imagine them on an episode of Blind Date .

Personen: Smith, Alexander McCall