the saturday big tent wedding party

Article first published as Book Review: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith on Blogcritics.

Precious Ramotswe is back, in the new paperback edition in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by author Alexander McCall Smith, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party.

Mma Ramotswe has a new and difficult client who she must try to help, but the real focus of the book, as with others in the series, is the gentle reminder to enjoy the beauty in life; and that many of life's problems, big and small, can eventually be solved with a little gentle tact and caring.

A nervous and not very likable farmer, Mr. Botsalo Moeti, has come to The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency for help in determining just who is behind some attacks on his cattle. As Mma Ramotswe tries to sort out the problem, and just how much she owes a client who may, in his own way, be in the wrong, there are also other complications closer to home.

She has been very much missing her beloved little white van and is unnerved by its possible, ghostly, reappearance.

One of the apprentices at Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's garage, Charlie, also has a very big (and very little) problem that involves his imprudent girlfriend Prudence.

Plans for the wedding of assistant detective Mma Makutsi and her fiance Phuti Radiphuti are in full swing, but Mma Makutsi has some doubts that Phuti is taking care of his side of the planning. She is also having a difficult "conversation" with brand new pair of beautiful white wedding shoes. An added distraction — her ultimate nemesis and former classmate from the Botswana Secretarial College, Violet Sephotho, is running for a seat in Botswana's parliament, a fact that appalls Mma Makutsi.

The only disappointment in this entry to the series might be that Mma Ramotswe's and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's two adopted children, Motholeli and Puso, are so relegated to the background of the story that they have almost completely disappeared. It would be nice if Mr. McCall Smith would follow up on his earlier hints that the wheelchair-bound Motholeli, who showed an interest and talent for mechanics, might want to join her father at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, and take on a more prominent role.

Mma Ramotswe uses her charm and smarts to resolve most of the novel's issues in her usual gentle and pleasant way, but The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party also has some undercurrents of unrest. As much as Botswana is praised as a wonderful place that still honors the "old values," there are glimpses into the difficult life that people outside of a city like Gaborone face, with the characters of a mother and child who live on a farm and are in thrall to the new owner. McCall Smith wants to look at the bright side of life in most of his writing, but he also wants to remind his readers that there is still much poverty and suffering in Africa.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series continues to delight, and Precious Ramotswe and all of her friends and extended family are still people we want to spend some time with, attending The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, under the broad blue skies of Botswana, sipping red bush tea.

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redbush tea and comfort

Article first published as Book Review: The Double Comfort Safari Club, by Alexander McCall Smith on Blogcritics.

New in paperback, the 11th book in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, The Double Comfort Safari Club, by Alexander McCall Smith, does not disappoint. McCall Smith, one of the most prolific writers around, once agin crafts a deceptively leisurely tale featuring the best (and only lady) detective in Botswana, Precious Ramotswe.

Mma Ramotswe, to use the correct and respectful title for the traditionally-built detective, once again must navigate an assortment of problems, mostly related to maters of the heart. As her secretary, no, make that Assistant Detective, Mma Makutsi notes, everyone, including herself, comes to Mma Ramotswe when something is bothering them. She has a way of making a person feel better. "Mma Ramotswe was always willing to talk about weighty matters — you could talk to her about something as simple as the weather or the price of sausages, and you would come away reassured. Perhaps the weather was not going to be as dry and hot as everybody feared — perhaps there really would be good rains; perhaps sausages were not as expensive as they appeared to be, given that they contained all that meat, and there was no wastage with a sausage."

Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe, from the HBO series based on the books

McCall Smith is very much like Precious Ramotswe. His books are always a balm. Problems of ethics and affairs of the heart are introduced, but they always have a solution. It may not always be the happiest outcome for everyone involved, but it is usually the correct one. Mma Ramotswe understands what is most important in life — kindness — and she tries to approach every situation with that in mind. Even when she is physically restraining an angry woman, someone whom she has just informed will not be successful in her scam to cheat one of Mma Ramotswe's clients, she still manages to find compassion for the woman, feeling sorry for her, knowing that her bad behavior comes from a deep inner well of unhappiness. Mma Ramotswe is not a detective in the tradition of Philip Marlowe or even Miss Marple. She is as much a guru as an unraveler of puzzles.

The Double Comfort Safari Club is a continuation of the day-to-day lives of Mma Ramotswe and those she loves, but can also be read and enjoyed out of sequence from the rest of the series. If you had read an earlier novel, taking place before Mma Makutsi had become engaged, as you are reading this book you might think to yourself, "Ah, Mma Makutsi has become engaged, good for her, she deserves some happiness," much as you might remark hearing the fact from Mma Ramotswe herself, telling you over a cup of strong redbush tea.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book, apart from the interactions between all of the very different characters, is that these people all ponder. Lots of different things, and their pondering is always entertaining to read. McCall Smith has a gift for being able to write in the many different voices of his very individual characters. Maybe it is the pace of life in Botswana, or the open vistas that influence so much reflection, but it has a soothing, beneficial effect on the reader.

McCall Smith's books are never boring — there is always plenty going on. It's surprising how many little plot threads are introduced and resolved by book's end. There is an overall sense of life taking time, and that in itself is good. As Mma Ramotswe is waiting to meet with a client, a nature guide from the Double Comfort Safari Club, she is told by his supervisor, who looks out at the setting sun, that he will be back soon. "Mma Ramotswe noticed the glance at the sun. People who lived in towns had stopped doing that — they had watches to enslave them. Here in the bush it was different: what the watch said was less important than what the sun said, and that, she thought, was the way it should be."

one hot Mma

Last night HBO aired the pilot of the new (to the U.S.) series The The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and for fans of author Alexander McCall Smith's series, of which I am a proud member, it was well worth the wait. The movie captured so much of what is wonderful about the books, including the language, colors and gentle pace of Botswana. What I may have missed just a little, was heroine Precious Ramotswe's (and Smith's) wise and wonderful observations about life, although I missed a bit of the beginning dialogue, as my daughter was so excited by the location and the animals (giraffes! elephants!) Luckily, this is on HBO, so I will get many opportunities to see it again and catch what I might have missed.

Although this show is being reviewed as a detective show, and Mma Ramotswe does indeed unravel some puzzles, that is not what the books or this movie are about. All of Smith's series are concerned with people and life and how we all muddle through it together. In the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series we are given a slice of what life must be like to lead in Botswana. The values of the "old Botswana" are frequently upheld, with more than a nudge that maybe we could all benefit by re-adopting some of what we seem to have lost in our fast and furious modern world - kindness, courtesy, patience - over a generous slice of raisin cake.

Smith taught law in Botswana, but is now an author full time, and I frankly don't know how he does it. Apart from the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, he also has other wonderful series of books, two of which I have read, both set in Edinburgh: The Sunday Philosophy Club series and the 44 Scotland Street series. Both have their charms. Isabel Dalhousie is the heroine of the Sunday Philosophy Club and she ponders questions both philosophical and romantic as she explores the finer things that Edinburgh has to offer. 44 Scotland Street is compiled from a series of stories that Smith published in The Scotsman newspaper. The tales follow an assortment of characters who live on the titular street, and in serial fashion we get to follow their exploits. Especially interesting is young Bertie, who has to deal with a smothering mother and the desire to fit in, somewhere.

I saw Smith at a reading here in D.C. a year ago and was delighted to find that he also writes books for children!

A one-man dynamo, surely, his books are not only creating small waves of happiness in the world, but must also be inspiring tourism to Botswana and Edinburgh, as I have added both of those places to my traveler's wishlist - and they were never even on my radar before.

I also just discovered that he has taken the serial novel idea online with his latest, Corduroy Mansions. So excuse me, I've got to get reading!