Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)

L. B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency of Botswana might have expected life to grow more sedate. But the many problems that lead customers to Mma Ramotswe's door seem, if anything, to have multiplied,and no sooner has she settled her traditionally built person into the married state than she finds herself looking into several troublesome matters at once. There is, to begin with, a disturbing case of blackmail and theft from the government catering college; then,while on an errand for her husband to the Mokolodi Game Reserve, Mma Ramotswe is seconded to investigate an unpleasant atmosphere that may be down to witchcraft - or something worse. And all the time Mma Ramotswe has weighty questions of a philosophical nature to consider, such as whether it is right to find happiness in small things like a new pair of blue shoes, a slice of cake or a red sunset over the Kalahari. 'It is hard to think of a contemporary writer more genuinely engaging' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday