The Colors of All the Cattle by Alexander McCall Smith

The Colors of All the Cattle: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 228 pages

Heading back to Botswana with Mma Ramotswe and her friends is always a  pleasant change from the stress and upset of modern life. In this latest book, number 19  in a series spanning 20 years, Precious Ramotswe, owner of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, is inveigled into running for a seat on the Gaberone City Council by her good friend Mma Potokwane, the Matron of the local Orphan Farm: Mma Potokwane is not a woman who takes no for an answer, and Mma Ramotswe agrees that someone should stop conniving property developer Gobe Maruti from building the Big Fun Hotel right next to the local cemetery and disturbing the resting place of the late. 

Mma Potokwani is convinced that Mma Ramotswe, with all her detective experience, will be able to stop the developer in his tracks. But Mma Ramotswe is not so sure that she is cut out for a political career, which involves public speaking, and argument, and being constantly in the public eye, but as her friends rally around her she decides to leave it all in God's hands. Her campaign slogan is simple: "I can't promise anything but I shall do my best." And as always, she does.

Another heartfelt and lyrical adventure from master storyteller McCall Smith.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from the New York Journal of Books.

The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith

The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith
(The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #18)
240 pages

"Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are approached by their part-time colleague, Mr. Polopetsi, with a troubling story: a woman, accused of being rude to a valued customer, has been wrongly dismissed from her job at an office furniture store.  Never one to let an act of injustice go unanswered, Mma Ramotswe begins to investigate, but soon discovers unexpected information that causes her to reluctantly change her views about the case...

"With the generosity and good humor that guide all her endeavors, Mma Ramotswe will untangle these questions for herself and for her loved ones, ultimately bringing to light important truths about friendship and family--both the one you're born with and the one you choose."  (from the publisher)

These books are delightful and refreshing for me.  McCall Smith lives up to his series standard with his latest installment.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Now how long until the next one is published...

The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith

The House of Unexpected Sisters: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 227 pages

The 18th book in this much-loved, long-running series is one of McCall Smith's best efforts. Botswana’s first female private detective, Precious Ramotswe and her co-director Grace Makutsi – who's upped her title again, to Principal Investigating Officer – agree to take on the case of Charity Mompoloki, a young widow with two children to support, who has been fired from her job at an office furniture company in Gaborone, because an important client said she was rude to him. Charity steadfastly maintains her innocence of the charge; and since up until then she had been a top performing saleswoman, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are looking to see what other motive the store owner, Rra Gopolang, might have had to dismiss Charity.


Mma Ramotswe is distracted from the case however, when she sees a photograph in the Botswana Daily News of a nurse named Mingie Ramotswe working in Lobotse. Mma Ramotswe is immediately intrigued: her surname is unusual; she was an only child and besides her and her daddy, there were only a few cousins. She wonders who this Mingie could be.  But when she finds out, it turns everything she believed about her family completely upside down. 

Then her friend Mma Potokwane warns Mma Ramotswe that her abusive ex-husband, Note Mokoti, has come back to Gaborone, creating more anxieties for Mma Ramotswe (the last time Note returned to Gabarone he tried to extort money from Mma Ramotswe).

How McCall Smith finally resolves all the disparate threads of this story is both clever and emotionally satisfying.  His traditional coda at the conclusion of the story reminds us just how powerful is the bond that connects a person with a beloved place.

Click HERE to read the review from Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith

Precious and Grace: The New No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 227 pages

Very few authors write about compassion and forgiveness as convincingly as Alexander McCall Smith. He has created a world that is less than perfect and a heroine who  can acknowledge those imperfections and still face life and its problems without cynicism or despair.

Whether she is dealing with a woman seeking to exorcise the ghost that mars her memories of childhood in Botswana, or extricating a naive associate from a questionable business deal, or finding a forever home for a stray dog, or gently encouraging Mma Makutsi to bury her feud with the notorious Violet Sephotho, Precious Ramotswe understands forgiveness is the only road that frees us from the dead weight of the past. The seventeenth book in the series is another gentle delight.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read the review from the Washington Times.

Click HERE to read the review from the Mystery People blog.

The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith

The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 213 pages

this is the 16th book in the prolific McCall Smith's best known and well-loved series of cozy detective stories featuring Mma Precious Ramostswe of Botswana.

As her dedicated fans all know, Mma Ramotswe is not one to sit back and take it easy. Her life is busy and filled with responsibilities, and she is a conscientious wife, mother, friend and business woman. So it is with some misgivings that she  allows herself to be persuaded to take a week's holiday, leaving her partner Mma Makutsi in sole charge of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

But on the very first day of her holiday, Mma Ramotswe encounters a delinquent-in-the-making, a small boy named Samuel set adrift on the streets of Gabarone and decides to intervene.

Then she discovers that in her absence Mma Makutsi has undertaken a very delicate case of a recently deceased politician with a large and loyal following whose reputation has been posthumously called into question. Convinced that Mma Makutsi is in over her head, Mma Ramotswe launces her own investigation. When Mma Makutsi finds out it puts a serious strain on both their partnership and their friendship.

Then Mma Ramotswe learns that Mma Makutsi's arch rival, the scheming Violet Sephotho, has opened a secretarial school in competition with Mma Makutsi's beloved alma mater, the Botswana Secretarial College. Both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi know that Violet Sephotho has zero interest in education so this so-called college is a scam of some kind that must be quickly nipped in the bud.

Click HERE to see the review in The Scotsman.

Click HERE to reaad the review from Publishers Weekly.

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 242 pages

The 14th installment in McCall Smith's well-loved cozy mystery series about Mma Precious Ramotswe and her friends, has a reflective, almost pensive feeling, as Mma Ramotswe attempts to reconcile the comfort of the familiar and reliable with the uncertainty and possibilites of change.

The Botswana of her childhood, the Botswana of her late father, is changing. The traditions of family life and the roles of husbands and wives are changing. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is changing, with the birth of Mma Makutsi's baby.

And Mma Ramotswe has taken on two new cases: one involves the identity of a nephew named to inherit a valuable farm; the other an anonymous campaign to wreck a fledging business owner's chance of success. In both instances Mma Ramotswe must consider not just actions but intentions to arrive at solutions that satisfy not just the letter of the law but the spirit. In the same way, Mma Ramotswe comes to a decision about the future of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.