Hardly Working

* Mma Ramotswe’s tenth adventure; published in Abacus paperback It is a troublesome fact on which even Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi agree: there are things that men know and ladies do not, and vice versa. It is unfortunate, for example, when Mma Ramotswe’s newest client is the big-shot owner of the ailing Kalahari Swoopers, that one thing lady detectives know very little about is football. And when the glamorous Violet Sephotho sets her sights on Mma Makutsi’s unsuspecting fiancé, it becomes exasperatingly clear that some men do not know how to recognise a ruthless Jezebel even when she is bouncing up and down on the best bed in the Double Comfort Furniture Shop. In her attempt to foster understanding between the sexes and find the traitor on Mr Football’s team, Mma Ramotswe ventures into new territory, drinks tea in unfamiliar kitchens and learns to trust in the observational powers of small boys. And, as wise and warm-hearted as his heroine, Alexander McCall Smith reminds us that we must dig deep to uncover the goodness of the human heart. Author: Alexander McCall Smith ISBN:9780349119977

The eighth instalment of Alexander McCall Smith’s wonderful No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series As winter turns to spring across the red earth, acacia trees and slow green rivers of Botswana, all is not quite as it should be on Zebra Drive, home to Mma Ramotswe and her beloved husband Mr J. L. B. Matekoni. At the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency there are the usual number of cases to be pursued, from persistent theft at Teenie Magama’s printing works to the rather more serious case of three suspicious deaths at the Mochudi hospital, but there is discontent among the ranks. It is bad enough that Mr Matekoni’s apprentice Charlie is off on another escapade and Mma Makutsi’s impending marriage threatens her happy working relationship with Mma Ramotswe. And when – in trying to prove himself a worthy husband – Mr J. L. B. Matekoni himself decides to try a little detective work, disaster looms . . . Tender, witty and wise, the latest instalment in the lives of Alexander McCall’s Smith’s extended Botswana family instructs us with familiar modesty in the importance of trust, love, not judging by appearances and what really makes a good husband. Author: Alexander McCall Smith ISBN:9780349117737