THE GOOD HUSBAND OF ZEBRA DRIVE
Alexander McCall Smith
Pantheon Books
Mystery
ISBN-10: 0375422730
ISBN-13: 978375422727

Will success spoil the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors? Precious Ramotswe and her husband, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, share offices and employees in their thriving businesses, but discontent bubbles beneath the calm surface.  

Grace Makutsi, secretary and assistant detective who graduated with a 97% in clerical skills from the Botswana Secretarial College (a fact she is quick to mention at the slightest provocation), is on the verge of revolt. She recently has become engaged to a successful businessman and believes she doesn't need this job in a noisy garage. She grows impatient with the apprentice mechanics, and now, much to her boss's consternation, she's being rude to potential detective agency clients. She quits in a huff, leaving both businesses in a state of turmoil. 

The eldest apprentice mechanic would love to quit tinkering with motors to open his own taxi service.  

Even Mr. Matekoni, mechanic extraordinaire and owner of Speedy Motors, looks on his wife's detective business as filled with intrigue and adventure, certainly far more interesting than tuning engines and adjusting brakes.   

Precious Ramotswe is perfectly happy with her profession, but just as the revolt begins to simmer at the office, the No. 1 Lady Detective is presented with her most challenging mystery to date. In all of her previous experiences in detecting and counseling people in trouble, never has she had a case like this. A local hospital administrator discloses to her the puzzling details of several unexplained deaths in the same bed at the same time on successive Fridays. Seeking to avoid scandal and disruption of hospital routine, he calls on Mma Ramotswe's well-known discretion and wisdom to sort things out in the least messy manner.

Mr. Matekoni sees the opportunity he has been waiting for when a client shows up at the office while his wife is out. He steps in to help by interviewing the woman, who tells him that she suspects her husband, a prominent local businessman, may be having an affair. She wants Mma Ramotswe to follow him to get the goods on him so she can confront him with his adultery.

Mr. Matekoni fancies himself to be a sharp observer, one of his wife's strongest attributes as a detective. He has observed the agency's clients and her technique from afar for some time, and it appears that all she does is ask a lot of simple questions and then discovers the truth. He embarks on the case on his own, and Mma Ramotswe reluctantly agrees to let him take it on. What he discovers about himself and the alleged wandering husband brings surprising results to all the parties.

Alexander McCall Smith has created an ongoing cast of characters beloved by fans from around the world. Precious Ramotswe solves the crimes and personal dilemmas of her clients with such gentle skill and ancient wisdom that readers wonder why all the troubles in this chaotic world can't be resolved so wisely.

McCall Smith writes about Botswana, where he taught law, with a deep love and admiration for the land and its people. A Scotsman, he lived for many years in Africa and now resides in Edinburgh where he continues the saga of Precious Ramotswe with this, his eighth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also creates ethical conundrums featuring another great and wise lady, Isabel Dalhousie, of the Sunday Philosophy Club series, who is gathering a fan club of her own.

   --- Reviewed by Roz Shea

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