In this latest episode in the beloved, best-selling series, the kindest and best detective in Botswana faces a tricky situation when her personal and professional lives become entangled.

Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. Odd as this is, she’s far too busy to worry about it. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. And, most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, defender of Botswana’s weak and downtrodden, has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?

As wealthy and powerful influences at the orphan farm become allied against their friend, help arrives from an unexpected visitor: the tall stranger from Mma Ramotswe’s dreams, who turns out to be none other than the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual, The Principles of Private Detection. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their teacher-turned-colleague help right this injustice and in the process discover something new about being a good detective.

Review

Praise for Alexander McCall Smith:

"To say McCall Smith is a literary phenomenon doesn't quite describe what has happened. He has become more of a movement, a worldwide club for the dissemination of gentle wisdom and good cheer."
*—The Telegraph

"McCall Smith has few peers in capturing the quiet moments of people's lives, and his empathetic lead has one of the biggest hearts in modern literature."
—Publishers Weekly
*

From the Hardcover edition.

Review

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Does not disappoint.... Wonderful and addictive.”
—newbooks

“Smith wisely doesn’t tamper with his winning recipe for literary comfort food.... As always, the detection is secondary to Smith’s continuing exploration of the rhythms and social dynamics of small-town African life.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“I love Mma Ramotswe more and more.... These books always leave me feeling more positive, more optimistic, more content…. Fans will find nothing disappointing here, other than the soft sigh as you turn the final page, knowing you must wait a little time again for the next installment!”
—The Bookbag (UK)