What an awesome little book! I was really pleasantly surprised at how good this one was.

Mma Ramotswe continues to charm us – a fun and easy read. Already Gaborone is beginning to feel like home. The engagement thread, which I’d dreaded, is handled very nicely and fits very well with the established characters.

In this second book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe is newly engaged to her friend Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. Her fledgling detective business in Gaborone, Botswana, is doing well, and she takes on several new cases, including those of a cheating wife and a son who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She also learns that her secretary, Mma Makutsi, has some detecting talents of her own.

What is quickly becoming one of my favorite aspects of the books is the subtle ways the author provides small morsels of cultural information to the reader. Although chances are small I’ll ever be fortunate enough to visit myself, I feel like I’m slowly getting to know Botswana.

Charming. Which is something you can’t normally say about a mystery.

Rating: 3*/5

Not quite as good as the first one, but I did enjoy it and will continue reading the series in a leisurely manner.

Ah. Now I see that this was the missing link in between the other No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books I’d previously read. This one, as I’ve said about the others, is compelling but soothing. An odd combination, but it works.