The Miracle at Speedy Motors

I've never been to Botswana or even Africa, but Alexander McCall Smith's series of light, humorous books takes me there seeking shade from an old acacia tree under the burning sun. This is the ninth outing for the wonderful sleuths from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Precious Ramotswe and her sidekick (who really wants an advancement to assistant detective), Mma Makutse. Precious's office lies behind her husband's garage, and the ladies enjoy cups of tea throughout the day while meeting clients or while working out strategies because nothing is more calming or idea-provoking than a cup of sweetened bush tea. In this mystery, a young woman without family asks Precious to search for her real kin. On her deathbed, her mother told the nurse that her daughter was adopted, and unfortunately, the nurse passed this information along to the client.

The lady detectives begin a focused if slow search but are distracted by real life: a new bed with a heart-shaped backboard that alas melts apart in the year's first rain, and Precious's daughter must take a trip to Johannesburg to the hospital for a possible cure for her inability to walk. Mma Makutse tries to keep a secret from her fiancee, and Precious's husband, the mechanic, tries to keep medical and financial secrets from her. What I particularly like about these slow-paced cozies are the philosophical asides. "Yes, one had to earn a living; yes, the world was not always as one might want it to be but all that seemed so small and unimportant under this sky." A lovely book that will make you forget your own troubles and let you feel blessed by that first warm rain pouring down from a big, blue-black sky.