Andrew McCall Smith is up to his old tricks again in this
the umpteenth entry in the long-running No. 1 Ladies‘ Detective Agency series.
We are treated to two story threads in the current book. Mma Rmotswe takes charge of a Speedy Motors
customer who is undergoing a mid-life crisis by purchasing a bright colored
sportscar from Mr. JLB Matekoni without telling his wife. After the car is
totaled in its first test drive, Mma comes to the rescue with her usual wily
compromise.
The second story puts Mma Makutsi in the investigative lead
and features the tracking down of the perpetrator or perpetrators of a series
of actions designed to destroy the reputation of the Great Hippopotamus
Hotel. We get several twists and turns
in this thread as there are multiple suspects. With the help of her shoes, Mma
Makutsi does a fine job locating the villain.
I don’t rate this as the best of the series, but it is the kind of uplifting Christmas read we all need this time of year. All of the familiar characters are there, the gentle humor rings true, and the life-supporting philosophy of forgiveness brings everything to a satisfactory close. McCall Smith's prose just seems to float like a summer cloud above the violence, cruelty and tension of the present day. Almost like clockwork, every
twenty-five pages or so you can underline a droll piece of comedy, a heartwarming
observation, or a philosophical gem.
To wit: "Men drink beer and eat sausages—they are all a bit like that –after a while their stomachs say ‘no more room for all this beer and sausages—and then they spread in the only direction possible—which is to the front.’”
or
“It is helpful if a people’s leaders build things, rather
than knock them down.”
or
“If only we could go back and cancel the misunderstandings and acts of selfishness that are like millstones in our lives, but we cannot, and so perhaps it is best for us to forget those things we cannot change.”
I love his books. I give this one a 4.8 out of 5.
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