THE JOY AND LIGHT BUS COMPANY [Paperback] McCall Smith Alexander

The latest instalment from the beloved THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY series

Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, Gaborone's No. 1 Lady Detectives, do not always agree on important issues - one being the complex male psyche. Grace believes that food is the source of men's happiness, while Precious takes a more nuanced view: men are not so different from women, they want to be loved and needed, too. It is pride that is so often their undoing.

Mma Ramotswe is reminded of this when ­her husband, J. L. B. Matekoni, is offered a daunting business opportunity; one which, if it fails, threatens their existing livelihood, including the detective agency. Somehow, Precious must guide her husband to the right decision, while being mindful of how much he wants The Joy and Light Bus Company to succeed.

Meanwhile, there are other problems to solve. A wealthy client's elderly father has changed his will, making his devoted live-in nurse a significant beneficiary, and the ladies are tasked with uncovering the woman as a fraud. And then there is the disturbing rumoured maltreatment of children living and working on a local farm, which a concerned Mma Ramotswe is intent on investigating.

Professional and moral duty battles with female instinct and Mma Ramotswe is determined not to jump to conclusions until she has all the facts. She knows only too well how cunning people can be. After all, she herself is not beyond a little trickery - especially when it comes to righting wrongs and seeing justice served, or when innocent lives are at stake.

Little, Brown/Abacus has sold more than 12 million copies of Alexander McCall Smith's books. This is the twenty-second book in the perennially adored The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.Everything about [McCall Smith] is appealing. He's just full of delight - it just bubbles out of him The hypnotic ease of McCall Smith's style makes everything clear almost instantly McCall Smith's familiar tone of wry amusement permeates the narrative, as does the detective's wisdom . . . hugely enjoyable Mma Ramotswe is a glorious creation, a character likely to prove every bit as enduring as Miss Marple or Hercule PoirotAn ultra-smooth ride . . . almost more blissful than even McCall Smith's millions of regular devotees could pray for or hope Blake may have been able to see the world in a grain of sand, but McCall Smith can encapsulate the human condition in a plate of stewed pumpkin. His talent is to see the god in small things Equally as brilliant as the previous editions. . . . McCall Smith writes with deceptive simplicity, yet his work is laced with worthy insight, and dry, yet charming, humour.