Precious and Grace

If you're a fan of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, you'll recognize the title of his latest novel, Precious and Grace (#609) as the first names of the two principal characters in these delightful mysteries.

Maa Precious Ramotswe set up her agency several years ago now, and is enjoying a small amount of success based on her reputation for honesty and integrity.  Maa Grace Makutsi has in the meantime promoted herself all the way up to Co-Director from her original position as Precious' only employee. She is a force of nature that not even the patient Precious can always deal with!  In fact, she wonders if she might be being edged out of her own office sometimes...

Take for instance, the case of a young Canadian woman who has contacted the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to help her find the house in Botswana where she was born and raised, and to locate the woman who was her nurse during those years.  When Precious arrives back at her office to find Susan Peters already discussing her particulars with Grace Makutsi behind Precious' own desk, she is uncomfortable with the way Grace is handling things.  Can she stop Grace from jumping to the wrong conclusion, and perhaps persuade Susan that there might be things in one's past it is best to leave alone?

But Grace isn't the only employee causing problems at the Agency.  Charlie, her junior detective, has acquired a stray dog.  His heart is in the right place, but how to find the right place for a dog named Zebra?  And meek little Mr. Polopetsi has unintentionally gotten himself mixed up with a con artist who will soon ruin his life, as well as those of his friends he has unwittingly drawn into the scam if the crook is not stopped.  How can Maa Ramotswe untangle this intricate web?

Precious Ramotswe does indeed find a way to deal with all these issues.  In this series, it's not the mystery itself that is the most important point; it's how Precious arrives at the solution with her unique blend of warmth, common sense, understanding of people and her belief in their intrinsic good that set these stories so far apart from common run.  Botswana itself is just as much a character in these books as Precious, Grace, Charlie and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Precious' husband.  Reading these books is like wrapping the warmth of the African sun around you as you live temporarily in that world.  Life offers us many lessons.  This is a good place to find a few to live by.