In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

In the sixth novel of the series that has captivated readers around the world, we return to the warm, echoing skies of Gaborone, Botswana, where life for Precious Ramotswe and her friends has recently become very busy. Precious Ramotswe, that cheerful Botswanan private investigator of "traditional build," is well-known to millions across the world through the best-selling No.1 Ladies‘ Detective Agency series. Those who have been following her exploits in five previously published novels will soon be able to savour the next installment, in which, as usual, circumstances are never as straightforward as they seem and events take a more than unexpected turn. Precious Ramotswe, is now married to Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. The Agency is busy, but Mma Ramotswe cannot ignore the plea which is made to her by a woman who comes to her with a tale of particular misfortune. Unfortunately, her attempts to help are interrupted by a close encounter between her tiny white van and a bicycle, and by a spectacular disagreement between her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and one of the apprentices at the garage. This apprentice has found a fancy girlfriend who drives a large silver Mercedes-Benz. How can he be rescued from his folly? And as for Mma Makutsi, she has found a dancing class, and a man who may not be able to dance very well but who admires her greatly. And all of this happens against a background of quiet sessions of bush tea, and of a land that stretches out forever under mile upon mile of empty sky. Both entertaining and moving, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies is another masterpiece of comic understatement from Alexander McCall Smith and an affectionate homageto Botswana and its people.