Finding a dependable author is hard. Finding a dependable author with a book series, who delivers the goods with every book, is harder! There is so much hype these days with every blogger, every writer with an opinion recommending books. It has gotten very difficult separating the wheat from the chaff. So when I can get my hands on a book of “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series, I consider myself very lucky. Author Alexander McCall Smith is fabulous, and although he writes quite a bit (and multiple series too!) each book is a work of quality. Precious Ramotswe, the protagonist, or lead detective in all these books is one of my favorite fictional characters.

I recently read Books 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” Series. In each book Mma Ramotswe tackles slightly different problems with logic, patience and good humor. In #14 “The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon” she must figure out why a new beauty salon is getting a bad reputation from the get-go, while in #15 “The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café” she must suss out the identity of a mysterious Indian woman, and help her assistant Grace Makutsi solve restaurant-running problems. In #16 “The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine” Mma Ramotswe, persuaded by the indefatigable Mma Makutsi decides to take a holiday, but a sensitive case comes in and she isn’t sure if Mma Makutsi is up to the task. In #17 “Precious and Grace” both the ladies of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency must handle a case and judge whether some things are better left in the past.

Each of these books is delightful, and seeing that I’ve read books of these series after quite a while, I savored each one. The beauty of these books and this series comes not just from the interesting cases that come through, but from the wisdom, compassion and good old common sense that flow from Mma Ramotswe’s lips and actions. These books are very different from typical who-dun-it mysteries, like Agatha Christie’s (also an author I adore) for example, because the mysteries themselves rarely involve murder/violence. The issues to be resolved revolve around human behavior, and Mma Ramotswe as detective-in-chief must handle each one with wit and grace.

The entire series is gorgeous. Do go read.