The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is not exactly serious literature, but it’s very pleasant, and there’s a lot to be said for that. Its intentions are good, it’s easy reading (or listening, if, like me, you’re listening to audiobooks), and the characters have, well, character.

Blue Shoes and Happiness is the 7th (and currently final) book in the series, and it’s no exception. Like all of the other books in the series, it’s not in a hurry (rather like Mma Ramotswe). I somehow managed to borrow an abridged version of the novel from the library (I must stop doing this!), but I enjoyed it very much.

Another round of “mysteries” with the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana. Of course these aren’t generally “mysteries” in the sense of whodunnits (although there is a whodunnit in this one) but really the mysteries of life, the tiny – or not so tiny – philosophical puzzles that present themselves as we wend through our daily lives. And Mma Ramotswe is an expert at solving, or at least deliberating, such mysteries. She gently dispenses advice and comfort through these pages, as often as not with a touch of humour thrown in.

Book No.7 in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. New adventures and characters with Mma Ramotswe.