Book Review: Blue Shoes and Happiness

Reviewed By: Catherine Thompson - RAM

Blue Shoes and Happiness     Amazon US TPB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada TPB Amazon Canada HC
Alexander McCall Smith
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: The No 1 Ladies Detective agency # 7
Knopf, $29.95 hardcover, 227 pages

Much excitement is brewing on the premises shared by Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. First, a cobra turns up in the agency’s office. Then a nurse from a local clinic reports to Mma Ramotswe that one of the doctors there has been recording false blood-pressure readings. A cook from the college in Gaborone comes to tell her that the senior cook has been stealing food from the kitchens to feed her husband. And most intriguing of all, the newspaper has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang.

With the redoubtable Mma Grace Makutsi at her side, Precious Ramotswe begins investigating these problems (aside from the cobra, which, being a cobra, simply is). But Mma Makutsi has her own problems. When her fiancé Phuti Radiphuti misses their customary dinner date, Mma Makutsi suspects that he’s having second thoughts about their engagement. Mma Ramotswe must unravel the tangled skein of these mysteries and help her assistant detective to understand that blue shoes don’t necessarily bring one happiness.

I, like many, am an unabashed admirer of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. There is something so soothing about Precious Ramotswe’s adventures. Reading one is like taking a lazy cruise down a slow-moving river on a hot day. And as diverse as the mysteries in each book are, nonetheless there is always a common thread that draws them all together in their solutions. I often wonder how Alexander McCall Smith does it, because I never suspect how everything will turn out, beyond the notion that all will be for the best. Blue Shoes and Happiness is like a cup of Mma Ramotswe’s bush tea: warm and calming.

Catherine Thompson - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM