The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

WCVPL Online Catalog

I just finished reading the newest installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and it was just as good as the rest of the books in the series!  Alexander McCall Smith's latest, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection is set in Botswana as is the other books in the series.  The novel showcases the same familiar characters, with the addition of at least one new one!  Besides developments in their personal lives (Mma Makutsi and her new husband Phuti Radiphuti are building their dream house and one of the apprentices at the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law), Mma Ramotswe has been having dreams about a tall stanger who waits for her.  To top it off, Mma Potokwane, defender of Botswana's orphans, has been dismissed from her post as matron of the orphan farm!  Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have their hands full trying to "make everything right" and deal with a surpise visitor to the detective agency!  I enjoy how McCall Smith brings Botswana to life in this series and I feel as if Mma Ramotswe and the rest of the characters are family members to me.  If you enjoy cozy mysteries, learning about Botswana and its people, you will enjoy reading this series.  I suggest you start with the first book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency,  as the events in the characters lives build on each other in each successive book.   

Mma Ramostswe Strikes Again!

The newest book in the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series is another charmer! Alexander McCall-Smith's The Double Comfort Safai Club is the latest book in the series and serves its purpose of giving the readers of this much-loved series more information about the main characters as well as solving a few mysteries! These books are cozies, and the setting of Botswana (and its people) is as much a part of these books as are the main characters. I highly suggest that you read these books in order, as McCall-Smith advances the lives of the characters with every installment. In this book, a terrible accident occurs to Mma Makutsi's fiance', Phuti Radiphuti, and Mma Ramotswe must help her Assistant Detective with her personal problems while attending to the agency's cases as well. My favorite part of this book was when Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi went on a safari in the Delta in order to locate one of the guides. The actions of both women were humorous and it was refreshing to see them visit a new place. These books are great if you enjoy light reading about a place, Botswana, that is alive and vibrant and full of interesting characters.