Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
I have just finished the third volume of the chronicles of Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and, like the others, it was a joy. And like the others, I read it from cover to cover in less than 24 hours.
Morality for Beautiful Girls focuses heavily on the travails of Mma Grace Makutsi, star alumnus of the Botswana Secretarial College, and her travails in being taken seriously as a professional woman. In the meantime, Mma Ramotswe must discover what is ailing her fiancé Mr JLB Matekoni, while strange things are afoot at the local orphanage. The tale is the usual multi-layered confection that turns out to have an underlying structure and thematic coherence the reader could never have suspected at the outset (unless, of course, they have read this series attentively in the past.)
The series is as follows:
- No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Tears of the Giraffe
- Morality for Beautiful Girls
- The Kalahari Typing School for Men
- The Full Cupboard of Life
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
These deceptively slim and colourful volumes all the story of Mma Precious Ramotswe, a traditionally-built Motswana lady with a passion for bush tea who also happens to be that country’s first (and most successful) female detective. And the chronicles of Mma Ramotswe are as layered as an onion – amusing and lighthearted on the surface but with great penetration and insight both into the human condition and into the challenges facing Africa.
However, this doesn’t mean they are hard going. Not at all. Having picked one up, your biggest problem will simply be putting it down again.
Some helpful links:
- Alexander McCall Smith’s official website
- The author’s top 10 humorous books (for The Guardian)
- BBC Four author profile
Tags: Alexander McCall Smith, crime fiction, Mma Precious Ramotswe