From the New York Times best-selling creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels and winner of the inaugural Saga Award for Wit, comes the first novel starring distinguished philologist Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. Von Igelfeld is the world's leading scholar on Portuguese irregular verbs. But in other matters - such as tennis against equally dreadful opponents and the arranging of fencing duels - he is not nearly so skilled. Yet that does not stop him from having a go at life, and the results are always humorous.