Monday, September 5, 2011

The Double Comfort Safari Club

The Double Comfort Safari Club, by Alexander McCall Smith is the 11th book in the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" novels.

(I want to point out that these books are filed at our library under "McCall" and not "Smith." Until I figured this out, I struggled to find these books!)

I read in an online discussion somewhere that "these books are great settlers of the soul and the spirit." I agree with that assessment - I love the leisurely pace of these books, the goodness of Mma Ramotswe and her friends, and the kindness that infuses her Botswana.

In this novel, Mma Ramotswe investigates a potentially unfaithful husband; tries to help a client who has lost, through deceit, the title to his house; and searches for a safari guide whose kindness has earned him a bequest from a former client. At the same time, Mma Makutsi's fiance, Phuti Radiphuti, has an accident, and his aunt uses his hospitalization as an opportunity to separate her nephew from his fiance.

Of course, Mma Ramotswe sorts through all this with her usual diligence and cleverness and common sense, and all loose ends are tied up by the book's end.

Mma Ramotswe reflects on all that she learned from her late father - lessons that would benefit us all:
He had taught her almost everything she knew about how to lead a good life, and the lessons she had learned from him were as fresh today as they ever had been. Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.

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