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
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
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