Entertainment

New adventure of Botswana's No 1 detective is feel-good fiction at its best

October 11, 2009 Edition 1

This is the delectable 10th instalment in the popular No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series by celebrated author Alexander McCall Smith.

I remember reading the first book in the series, given to me by a dear friend when I first travelled to southern Africa. It was strikingly different from every other title I'd read during my preparations for the trip.

Set in present-day Botswana, it encapsulated a way of life that is usually not portrayed in novels written about the region: kind people making the best of their talents to turn their world into a better place.

Despite the fact that the main character, Mma Ramotswe, is a private investigator who is confronted with all kind of human vices, all the books in the series convey an optimistic, positive outlook on life and people in Botswana.

McCall Smith does not dwell on the topics most other authors writing about Africa focus on: poverty, violence and misery.

Critics have pointed out that this is the greatest fault of the series, and yet I cannot help wondering what is so wrong about putting southern Africa on the literary map in the best possible light, as a warm-hearted place where good things do happen. So what if the work leans towards the unrealistic? Most fiction has that disconcerting quality.

At one stage in the novel, Mma Ramotswe shares a moving moment with her husband, JLB Matekoni, thanking him for everything he has given her: "He was not one for displays of emotion; he never had been, but it made his heart swell to be thanked by this woman who stood for so much in his eyes; who stood for kindness and generosity and understanding; for a country of which he was so proud; who stood for Africa and all the love that Africa contained." Why not celebrate what there is to treasure?

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, like the rest of Mma Ramotswe's adventures, is feel-good fiction at its very best.

In this latest, the heroine has to venture into an unexplored terrain - the world of soccer - to solve a client's problem. The owner and manager of the prestigious local club, Kalahari Swoopers, asks her to investigate the reason for his team's long-lasting streak of bad luck. Reluctantly, never having set foot in a football stadium before, Mma Ramotswe is persuaded to take up the case, to the excitement of her adopted teenage son, Puso.

Her personal worries concern her beloved little white van. An unusual sound begins making itself known and Mma Ramotswe feels that it is the end of her vehicle. While everybody else seems to agree, she grasps at straws to save it.

Meanwhile, her assistant, the feisty Mma Makutsi, has to watch out for her old enemy who has set her eyes on Mma Makutsi's fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti: "Violet Sephotho had a weapon in her armoury that she simply did not have. Glamour."

When Violet applies for a job as sales assistant at Phuti's furniture store, Mma Makutsi knows that she is up against a formidable opponent who will play dirty: "And would Phuti, for all his fine qualities, be able to resist the devastating power of one so skilled in the sinister arts of husband-stealing?"

As always, there is plenty of tea, as well as professional and personal wisdom. For fans, Tea Time is not to be missed. For new readers, it offers a delightful entry into the world of Mma Ramotswe and her friends.