Precious and Grace

September 19, 2016
“Forgiveness is often the solution,” observes Precious Ramotswe toward the end of Smith’s warmhearted, humane 17th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel (after 2015’s The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine). Mma Ramotswe is referring to the book’s main case, which involves a Canadian woman in her late 30s, Susan, who spent her childhood years in Botswana and now wants to find Rosie, the nurse maid largely responsible for raising her. Mma Ramotswe places an ad in a Gaborone newspaper, which brings a woman who claims to be Rosie to the detective agency. Grace Makutsi, the agency’s prickly codirector, suspects this Rosie is a fraud, while Mma Ramotswe senses something not quite right about Susan’s quest. Meanwhile, the ladies deal with a couple of minor cases: their assistant Fanwell rescues a stray dog that needs a home, and Mr. Polepetsi, their sometime helper, becomes an unwitting pawn in a pyramid scheme involving cattle. As ever, Smith adroitly mixes gentle humor with important life lessons. Agent: Robin Straus, Robin Straus Agency.