The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency)

     Author                      Alexander McCall Smith

     Country                    Scotland

     Genre                        Fiction

     Publication date       2014

     Pages                         240







This is another charming and absolutely refreshing book of  'The No. 1 Ladies  Detective Agency' series. Alexander McCall Smith continues to do an impeccable job of pulling together a story set in Bostwana, Africa with characters that reflect an inherent goodness. And that's just one of the many aspects that ensures that all his books stand apart. The stories are generic but the simplicity and the genuineness with which they are weaved together and conveyed is what makes them exquisite.

The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe is built around the story of a woman who seeks Mma Ramotswe's help to find out about her past. Interspersed with this is the tale of Mma Makutsi who, as the proud owner of The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe is trying to find her feet in the world of business.

Not surprisingly, the book carries with itself the spirit of Bostwana and a profound sense of Bostwana morality. It's against this backdrop that Mma Ramotswe operates in both her personal and professional life. Infact, her sense of purpose in her detective work emanates from this belief in righteousness and moral uprightness.

Bringing this to life are the following quotes from the book:

'Bostwana was a good place - it always had been - and Mma Ramotswe knew that she would fight to keep it that way'

'When other people behaved dishonestly it was the business of others, because if we did not react to the bad behaviour of others, then we weakened the whole of society, and that was definitely part of everybody's business'

While Mma Ramotswe, as we can see above, is a completely 'from the heart' person, her once assistant and now business partner, Mma Makutsi is a more practical person who isn't afraid to speak her mind. In some ways, a contrast to Mma Ramotswe, she reflects passion and ambition and forms a core part of this absolutely light yet meaningful read.

As I conclude this note, I can't help recall Mma Ramotswe's closing lines from the book:

'The world is not always a place of pain and loss, but a place where our simple human affairs - those matters that for all their pettiness still sometimes confound us - are not insoluble, are not without the possibility of resolution'

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