The Joy and Light Bus Company (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)

Review Everything about [McCall Smith] is appealing. He's just full of delight - it just bubbles out of him ― Sunday HeraldThe hypnotic ease of McCall Smith's style makes everything clear almost instantly ― Daily TelegraphMcCall Smith's familiar tone of wry amusement permeates the narrative, as does the detective's wisdom . . . hugely enjoyable ― Sunday TimesMma Ramotswe is a glorious creation, a character likely to prove every bit as enduring as Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot ― Mail on SundayAn ultra-smooth ride . . . almost more blissful than even McCall Smith's millions of regular devotees could pray for or hope ― ScotsmanBlake may have been able to see the world in a grain of sand, but McCall Smith can encapsulate the human condition in a plate of stewed pumpkin. His talent is to see the god in small things ― Sunday Times ScotlandEqually as brilliant as the previous editions. . . . McCall Smith writes with deceptive simplicity, yet his work is laced with worthy insight, and dry, yet charming, humour. ― Scottish Field Product Description The latest instalment from the beloved THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY seriesMma Ramotswe knows she is very lucky indeed. She has a loving family, good friends and a thriving business doing what she enjoys most: helping people. But the latest mystery she is called upon to solve is distinctly trickier than it initially appears, and, of course, there's plenty to handle in her personal life between Charlie and his new bride and Mma Makutsi and her talking shoes.In the end, Mma Ramotswe's patience and common-sense will win out, and, without a doubt, all will be the better for it. Book Description Little, Brown/Abacus has sold more than 12 million copies of Alexander McCall Smith's books. This is the twenty-second book in the perennially adored The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. From the Inside Flap Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, Gaborone's No. 1 Lady Detectives, do not always agree on important issues - one being the complex male psyche. Grace believes that food is the source of men's happiness, while Precious takes a more nuanced view: men are not so different from women, they want to be loved and needed, too. It is pride that is so often their undoing. Mma Ramotswe is reminded of this when ­her husband, J. L. B. Matekoni, is offered a daunting business opportunity; one which, if it fails, threatens their existing livelihood, including the detective agency. Somehow, Precious must guide her husband to the right decision, while being mindful of how much he wants The Joy and Light Bus Company to succeed. Meanwhile, there are other problems to solve. A wealthy client's elderly father has changed his will, making his devoted live-in nurse a significant beneficiary, and the ladies are tasked with uncovering the woman as a fraud. And then there is the disturbing rumoured maltreatment of children living and working on a local farm, which a concerned Mma Ramotswe is intent on investigating. Professional and moral duty battles with female instinct and Mma Ramotswe is determined not to jump to conclusions until she has all the facts. She knows only too well how cunning people can be. After all, she herself is not beyond a little trickery - especially when it comes to righting wrongs and seeing justice served, or when innocent lives are at stake. From the Back Cover Now that Mma Ramotswe had decided that she would do something, she would not walk away - she had never done that before in the face of a wrong that was crying out to be righted, and she would not start now. Mma Ramotswe was too modest to consider herself brave, but that was what she was. She was a brave woman, and however boastful men might be about their deeds of heroism, when it came to bravery, women could hold their heads up as high as could men, higher perhaps - not that these things should ever be measured. About the Author Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over