TEA TIME FOR THE TRADITIONALLY BUILT
The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel
Alexander McCall Smith
Pantheon Books
Mystery
ISBN: 9780375424496
The 10th installment in the comfy saga of Botswana’s only lady detective brings new, but not startling, problems to bear in Precious Ramotswe’s thriving business.
Her No. 1 problem is her trusty little white van, finally on its last wheels. It has been regularly resuscitated by her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, owner of the Speedy Way garage, which also houses the office of the detective agency. He has jerry-rigged repairs on the 22-year-old truck for years, each time warning his wife that it’s time to consider a new car. Mma Ramotswe, a traditional lady in all ways (not just her physique), is reluctant to give up her old and faithful friend. So in her characteristically non-confrontational way, she decides that there are too many lazy people in Gaborone driving far too many cars, so she will set an example by walking to work. In truth, the little white van’s last gasps are so noisy that propelling it to work and parking it at the garage will bring down the dreaded death sentence from her husband.
Her latest client, the rich and famous owner of the Kalahari Swoopers, a former championship soccer team, comes to her with a problem. His team is losing one game after another, and he is convinced that one of his players may be deliberately throwing the matches, but he doesn’t know which one. He hires Mma Ramotswe to interview the players and attend matches to expose the culprit. Mma Ramotswe has never seen a soccer match in her life, so she presses her foster son, Puso, a star-struck 12-year-old soccer fan, into accompanying her to explain the game. Puso proves to have the makings of a budding detective himself, and pinpoints the problem that is, of course, right in front of everyone’s noses.
Meanwhile, Grace Makutsi, the No. 1 Detective Agency’s first Assistant Detective, has problems of her own. Her fiancée, a wealthy furniture store owner, has hired Grace’s archrival from secretarial school as a salesperson in the bedding department where her astonishing sales record catapults her to manager. Grace, suspicious of her rival’s motives toward her fiancée and her instant success, engages the roguish Charlie, the lazy but charming mechanic at the garage, into undercover work to expose the truth of the infamous lady to Grace’s naïve fiancée.
Cozy is the byword of these delightful almost-mystery novels. The quiet, soothing African rhythms of daily life in peaceful Botswana offer respite to the millions of fans of this engaging series.
And now, to the delight of these fans, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency has been developed into a series on HBO. The scripts stick very closely to the storylines from the novels, and the casting of our Traditionally Built No. 1 Lady Detective couldn’t be more perfect. Filmed on location in Botswana, the rest of the cast, which includes a few new characters, doesn’t spoil the books in the least.
So curl up with a cup of tea, and enjoy the delightful and relaxing tempo of another episode in the saga of our favorite lady detective. And for dessert, watch the stories played out in the televised series based on the books.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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