Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls

The gentle storytelling of McCall Smith and the unique way he deals with his characters will not (and does not) appeal to everyone. Personally I love his writing styles and love the simple, easy way he writes that reflects the slower pace of life for our heroine Mma Precious Ramotswe and her No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. This is the third in the series, following for the original No 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Tears of the Giraffe.

Mma Ramotswe’s fiancé the highly esteemed Mr J L B Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is unwell, and Mma Ramotswe has a lot on her plate with caring for the orphans he adopted and worrying about the lack of money coming into the agency. She decides to move the agency to the garage so she and Assistant Detective Mma Makutsi can help out. Among the cases that Mma Ramotswe has to deal with is investigating claims by an important Government man that his brother is being poisoned and worrying about an orphan who smells of lion…. Meanwhile Mma Makutsi has a very important case of her own, investigating contestants for a local Beauty pageant.

Those familiar with McCall Smith’s work will enjoy this book, the detective work is nothing compared to the serial killers and forensic work that most contemporary crime novels deal with (I was surprised to find his books in the Crime section at Waterstones) but fans of his books don’t read them for the Whodunnit but because they love his characters and their way of life. His books are always positive and are a real feel good read and I already look forward to the next one in the series.