In this third volume of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the irrepressible Precious Ramotswe faces supreme problems at home and at work.

With her detective agency in financial difficulty, Mma Ramotswe takes the hard decision to share offices with her husband-to-be, Mr J. L. B. Matekoni. But even though Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors could do with a little help, it is Mr. Matekoni himself who requires her attention…

If that wasn’t enough, the agency is facing some of its most puzzling cases: the government official whose sister-in-law is trying to poison his brother; the beauty pageant whose contestants aren’t as good as their looks; and the strange young boy, found naked and wild, and smelling of lion…

- I had to wait for 60 pages to get some flesh and blood into the characters. It is very difficult to cope as a reader with characters who, every now and then, utter sentences and observations that are oversimplified, seemingly without relevance and basis in reality and therefore do not mean a thing. But, as the book progresses, everything becomes more serious and immediately grabs your attention. It is only then that I could start to appreciate messages and thoughts the author has been trying to get across.

- What it does is remind us of simple, easy-to-forget, important things in life - an attentive reader will be able to find delightful little pearls of wisdom scattered throughout the novel.

- Perhaps one of the most valuable assets of the novel is its humane component, such as Precious Ramotswe’s reflection on the reasons for her friend’s cruel treatment of her maid: “It occurred to Mma Ramotswe that such behaviour was no more than ignorance; an inability to understand the hopes and aspirations of others. That understanding, thought Mma Ramotswe, was the beginning of all morality. If you knew how a person was feeling, if you could imagine yourself in her position, then surely it would be impossible to inflict further pain...”

- It is a modern fable, with simple plot and strong female characters. Surprisingly for a male author, A. McCall-Smith is successful in looking at the world from a female perspective and sometimes even ruthless in his criticisms of men. He understands women and their psyche really well.

- I do not think that this is a novel about characters. They are symbols – one can easily conclude that from the way they speak, act and think; even from their names - e.g. Government Man is a symbol for an arrogant rude male politician. Precious Ramotswe is the only real character.

- What the author does incredibly well, his simplistic ways being helpful in this case, is an evocation of the beauty of Botswana’s nature, especially episodes at the farm that Mma Ramotswe visits for a few days.

- This novel might be a good, entertaining and a rather easy read for someone not entirely comfortable with English.

- In addition to all of the comments above, the book is often very entertaining – because of it’s descriptions of peculiarities of life in Botswana as well as humorous episodes including strange investigation methods or Mma Ramotswe’s assistant.