It’s winter in Botswana, and Mma Ramotswe can’t do without her cup of bush tea. She needs a lot of it, too, grappling with domestic life and her detective agency, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Her assistant, the shoe-loving, bespectacled Grace Makutsi is thinking of moving on to a better job, after all, she did get a 97 per cent at the secretarial college. And her husband, the mild-mannered loveable Mr JLB Matekoni, the owner of Tlokweng Speedy Motors, is contemplating life as a detective. To add to her problems, Mma Ramotswe has been asked to look into the deaths of three patients at a local hospital.
But nothing can upset the rhythm of the “traditionally built” Mma Ramotswe, not even when Charlie, the apprentice mechanic, announces his decision to leave the garage and start the No. 1 Ladies Taxi Service.
The eighth book in the popular Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series delights the reader with its upbeat take on life in Botswana. There’s always time for a cup of tea, a slice of cake and to acknowledge the beauty of life. Many readers may find the book isimplistic to the point of being trite, but McCall Smith's narrative style is uncomplicated and undemanding. He is not here to talk about the suffering and the wars that plague many countries in Africa. Instead, the books tell a different story. They tell a story of loyalty, hope, compassion, pride for the African way of life, and above all… love.
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