The thirteenth volume and a great addition to the popular cozy mystery series. Mma Ramotswe, proprietor of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, has had a recurring dream of a tall stranger waiting for her under an acacia tree. Her assistant Mma Maskutsi and her new husband Phuti Radiphuti are having problems with the builder they hired to build their dream house. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, the husband of Mma Ramotswe (and the best mechanic in Botswana), is trying to help his recently qualified mechanic, Fanwell, defend himself against a charge of theft, but the lawyer he hired for Fanwell proves to be so incompetent he is more hindrance than help to his client. And Mma Ramotswe's redoubtable friend, Mma Potokwane, has been fired from her job as the matron in charge of the orphan farm for resisting changes proposed by a new member of the governing board.
Then a tall stranger from America appears at the door of the detective agency. He is none other than Mr. Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Detection, the definitive book that has guided Mma Ramotswe in her work from the beginning, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are both convinced that the great detective is the one person who can help them in their hour of need. Clovis Andersen however, seems oddly reticent to help --- at first.
This series combines subtle humor, deft characterization, a firm moral compass, and a wonderful sense of place, simultaneously changeless and changing.
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