Two By Alexander McCall Smith

All’s Well In Botswana

It’s been twenty years and nineteen books—neither Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana, nor his “traditionally built” heroine, Precious Ramotswe, have changed much.

In the latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, The Colors of All the Cattle, Precious and her partner, Grace Makutsi are hard at work as usual, keeping criminals in check in the gentle capital of Gaborane, which remains in an era when computers and cell phones have not yet reached. Instead of Googling for information, the Ladies and their on-off assistants, young Charlie and old Mr Polopetsi, drive around the city and beyond looking for clues. Precious still works out of her husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, garage, called Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, keeps her mind sharp drinking red bush tea and runs up once more against the ubiquitous femme fatale Violet Sephotho.

The minor crimes and leisurely pace of Smith’s books in this series are what appeal to fans. In this one, Dr. Marang, an old acquaintance turns up from her village of Mochudi, and wants her to help trace the driver who knocked him down, injured him badly and fled. He does not know the make or number of the car, only that it was blue.

Meanwhile, Precious’s best friend, the formidable Sylvia Potokwane, who runs an orphanage and bakes delicious cakes, insists that the detective stand for council elections, and prevent the construction of the Big Fun Hotel, next to the local cemetery, where even the dead won’t be able to rest in peace.

The feckless Charlie woes Queenie Queenie, ignorant of the fact that she is the daughter of a wealthy man, and sister of the muscular wrestler Hercules, who is notorious for breaking the bones of his sister’s suitors. Worse, Grace Makutsi has her first quarrel with her placid husband Phuti Radiphuti.

Precious Ramotswe may go all out to fight for justice, but is otherwise so peaceable and modest that she thinks it is somehow wrong to vote for oneself!  It is no spoiler for the regular reader, that Violet Sephotho never has a chance when up against the two Lady Detectives.  A quick, satisfying read.

The Colours Of All The Cattle

By Alexander McCall Smith

Publisher: Pantheon

Pages: 240

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Crying Wolf

After his many novels set in Botwana and Scotland, the prolific Alexander McCall Smith, rather surprisingly, commences a new ‘Nordic Blanc’ (as opposed to Nordic Noir) series with The Department Of Sensitive Crimes. The protagonist is Ulf Varg (whose name means Wolf Wolf), who works with Malmo’s Sensitive Crimes Department.

The small, understaffed department gets dumped with cases that the regular cops cannot solve—like why a shopkeeper got stabbed at the back of his knee? How did a young woman’s non-existent boyfriend vanish? Why is someone targetting a spa run by Police Commissioner Felix Ahlström’s cousin?

While he is investigating, Ulf also broods a lot, teaches his hearing impaired dog to lip read, and tries to sort out his feelings for his colleague, Anna Bengsdotter, married to an anaesthetist. The others on the team are the super efficient Carl Holgersson and Erik Nykvist, with his passion for fishing. Then there is a uniformed cop called Blomquist assigned to the team--that name has to be inspired by the character from Stieg Larsson’s ‘Girl’ books that first brought fame and best-selling status to Scandinavian crime novels.

The book moves at a meandering pace, the cases and their solutions are bizarre, and it is not as much fun as the Botswana series. Maybe the second Varg novel will get the series going.

The Department Of Sensitive Crimes

By Alexander McCall Smith

Publisher: Hachette India

Pages: 240

The Wych Elm

Lucky Toby

Tana French, best known for her Dublin Murder Squad series, has written a stand-alone novel The Wych Elm, a richly atmospheric and very spooky suspense tale placed in the midst of a family drama.

Toby Hennessy, considers himself lucky-- without too much effort he has achieved whatever he wanted to. A handsome and charming young man, he has a close-knit family, an enviable PR job with an art gallery, a loving girlfriend and loyal buddies. Then, in the matter of one evening, everything goes wrong.

When he interrupts a robbery in his apartment, he is viciously beaten. His injuries leave him physically disfigured and mentally disturbed with memory gaps. His cousins Susanna and Leon, who have been more like siblings to him, suggest he spend time at the family home, The Ivy House, where the three spent many a delightful summer under the benevolent eye of their bachelor uncle, Hugo.

 Hugo is suffering from a terminal illness and needs someone to keep an eye on him, and Toby, obviously needs to recover from his trauma.  He moves there with Melissa and seems to be getting better, when life throws him another curveball. A skull is found in the trunk of the Wych Elm in their garden, The cops come by, cut the tree and dig up the garden. The skull happens to belong to a classmate of Toby’s, and suddenly, he is suspected of murder.

The cops—in particularly Inspector Rafferty-- dig their teeth into the case with a cold efficiency that seems almost brutal towards Hugo and Toby, both not in a fit state to bear the constant intrusion into their idyllic home and the disturbance of their already fragile minds.

French keeps adding layers to the story of the dead boy, and every time a new piece of information is unearthed, the reader’s point of view is manipulated this way and that. If murder had been committed all those years ago, then who among the Hennessey kids did it—they all had motive, as it turns out.

It is a slow-burning novel with does seem to drag a bit, and go round in circles; it is not as straightforward as a whodunit or police procedural, but an exploration of human nature and the testing of family ties. It is heavy going, and Toby is not a protagonist one likes too much, but in the end, the effort of staying with the story is rewarding.

The Wych Elm

By Tana French

Publisher: Viking

Pages: 464

Run Away

The Good Father

In his new standalone book, Run Away—already on top of the bestseller lists—Harlan Coben goes straight for the heart. His protagonist, Simon Greene is the fiercely devoted father, who cannot give up on his missing daughter. The smart and pretty Paige, was inexplicably drawn into the world of drugs, while she was in college. When she disappears on day, Simon, a wealthy Manhattan finance manager, just refuses to give up the search for her, even when his doctor wife, Ingrid, and two other kids shrug her off.

On a tip by a well-meaning neighbour, Simon tracks down Paige to a park, where he is shocked to find a dirty, emaciated girl playing the guitar and busking for coins. He tries to talk to her, and when interrupted by her dealer boyfriend Aaron Corval, Simon hits him. Misunderstanding the situation, onlookers post videos of the ‘attack’ accusing the wealthy man of beating up a homeless person. The video goes viral and Simon’s life into a downward spiral. Just when he is recovering somewhat, a Detective Isaac Fagbenle (described as jaw-droppingly handsome) turns up to investigate the murder of Aaron.

Simon and Ingrid go to the apartment Aaron shared with Paige—a squalid dump—hoping to find their daughter; there is an altercation with a drug dealer, that ends in Ingrid being shot and going into a coma. Now Simon is even keener to find out what is going on, and has as an unlikely ally, Paige’s scruffy neighbour and landlord, Cornelious.

The story of the Greene family troubles is interspersed with Chicago private detective Elena Ramirez, hired to hunt for missing adopted son of the rich Sebastian Thorpe III, and a nasty pair, Ash and Dee Dee, going about murdering seemingly random targets. Going by Coben’s past thrillers, the three threads have to come together, though the connection and the reason for the turmoil is rather far-fetched and much too schematic.

However, Coben’s brisk writing never lets the reader’s interest flag; he makes Simon Greene so earnest and caring that you can’t but root for him. He also has unusual descriptions and backstories of some characters, just in case the book is turned into a film; plus there is a multi-racial cast so that the inclusivity clause is ticked. Meanwhile, the wait for the next in the Myron Bolitar series is on.

Run Away

By Harlan Coben

Publisher: Grand Central

Pages: 384