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Mma Ramotswe is not only the first lady detective to open a practice in Botswana, she's also the wisest. There is no problem too complex for her to resolve. She fixes bad marriages, settles employer/employee labor disputes, finds lost persons, uncovers fraud and corruption, and straightens out wayward youth with such aplomb and grace that she rapidly is becoming a legend in the land. No one can measure up to her insightful observations and Socratic wisdom when it comes to solving other people's problems.
In her latest adventure, however, problems come to roost on her own doorstep. She stumbles across a home intruder, her tiny white van is stolen, and a long-forgotten ghost from her past comes back to haunt her and threaten her marriage to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. All of her perception and sleuthing skills are tested as she grapples with her own demons in this, perhaps the most intricately plotted novel in this charming series.
Things are changing at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which is housed in her husband's auto repair shop. Business is flourishing for both, but when one of the apprentice mechanics runs off with a rich woman in a Mercedes, they need to hire new help. Mma Ramotswe is involved in an auto accident with an out-of-luck gentleman, and a candidate for employment enters the story. Mma Makutsi, Assistant Detective, decides to improve her social life by attending dancing lessons and meets a man with two left feet who wants to steal her heart, which complicates things for all.
Mma Ramotswe is dedicated to civility in all things. She can forgive most transgressions, and her resolutions to the knotty problems that come through her doorway elevate her diplomatic skills to the level of an international mediator. Yet, when confronted with the one event in her life that could destroy everything she's worked to accomplish, she is up against the wall. It takes the skills of her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and the new apprentice mechanic, who turns out to have superb detective skills, to extricate our heroine from disaster.
Especially amusing are Mma Ramotswe's droll comments. She observes, as she muses over her household intruder's intentions, that robbery may have been the motive. She stares at a velvet painting, a favorite of her husband's but not of hers, as she assesses the potential losses should a robbery take place. "…indeed, if they ever did have a burglary, when everything was taken, she was sure that the picture would somehow be left, and she would have to look at it while she sat on cushions on the floor, all the chairs having gone."
To label Alexander McCall Smith's homage to his adopted country, Botswana, as cozies is to give them short shrift. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mysteries are witty and perceptive observations on a culture and morality that is in retreat from the wave of modernization in this sun-drenched, peaceful African nation. More than mysteries, they are gentle examinations of the human condition. The voice of the novels is written in the cadences of the African veldt, and one can almost hear the lilting accents and gracious phrases used to convey meaning beyond mere words.
Smith has injected new energy into his mystery series, a welcome event after THE FULL CUPBOARD OF LIFE, which seemed to run out of plot and ideas at the halfway point. IN THE COMPANY OF CHEERFUL LADIES does what any good mystery does --- entertains, informs and entices you to keep turning the pages.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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