McCall Smith’s Latest
I have loved McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies Detective Agency
series for many years, so I am rather sadly reporting that he may be running
out of interesting plot lines. In the
Time of Five Pumpkins, all the old characters are there and Mma Makutsi’s
shoes are still talking to her, but somehow the coming of the rains and the
growth of pumpkins aren’t enough to keep me reading with vigor.
Mma Ramotswe takes on
a knotty ethical problem by agreeing to separately represent each person in a
couple, both of whom accuse the other of “stepping out”. Neither client is honest
or interesting. In a second plot, Mr. J.
L. B. Matekoni appears to have found a new friend in an important car salesman.
Mma Ramotswe fears the man may be trying to curry some kind of favor from her husband and that does turn out to be
true. The best scene in the book describes a harrowing fishing trip in which
the car mogul falls into the water during a fishing trip and is almost eaten by
a crocodile before he is saved by Mr. Matekoni.
Along the way, the book contains the expected little strokes
of McCall-Smith wisdom and, as usual, manages to resolve everything just as the
symbolic spring rains arrive bringing with them the promise of renewed growth
and a rich harvest. The book is likable, funny at times, and a quick read. There is some comfort in that, but not enough
to give it more than a pleasantly respectable 3 out of 5.
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