These are the best comfort books I’ve ever read – in the top 10 anyway and that’s really something after having read all 24 “No.1  Ladies’ Detective Agency” books. That’s since 1999 when they hit the stores and were mentioned in a review I read.  (I got it on that old 5-books free shipping plan – lol.) And then I bought them as they came out, either in paperback, hard cover or Audible.  (There might have been one in Kindle.) 

From a Far and Lovely Country
by Alexander McCall Smith
2023  (249 pp) 
Read by Lisette Lecat 10h 15m
Rating: 10 / for the fun 
(#24 in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) 

My first three books in the series were paperbacks, my 4th and 5th were hard covers but by the time I got to the 6th I was reading these via Audible. Now they offer the Audible version the same day the hardcover is released and there might be a movie set to open shortly.

I remember the old days when a normal new release first came in hardcover and that lasted about a year prior to the release of the paperback. We  simply had to wait, unless we were willing to pay 3 times the paperback price.  (Confession – a few years after I started teaching there were a couple authors I just had to get – skip the wait.  Prime was a huge money saver for me – I had that paid for by March on shipping costs for books alone. (I figured that out at the time.) But about the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency;
first; for those new to the series, the stories are not really mysteries, although the title of the series certainly sounds like it is. Lots of lesser crimes occur, though, I only remember one murder 
 

From a Far and Lovely Country starts at a somewhat slower pace than the prior books in the series, But it’s not too long before you’re reading about several cases or story lines. And there are ongoing motifs of various kinds,  modern vs old-fashioned, women’s place in society, technology, corruption, “The trouble with the world is …” Many of them boil down to the Seven Deadly Sins,  pride, greed and envy.  Some of the traits promoted are honesty, humility, kindness, tolerance and love.  

The book opens on Precious’ birthday, but it looks like no one remembers and this is disappointing to her. Also disappointing is the awareness that she has gained both pounds and sizes.  

One of the themes is “how important is it?” To start out no one has remembered Mma Romatswe  birthday and that bothers her in some way and there’s something about a couple of birthday disappointments.

But she has to work so her cases at ths moment are:
1. A woman now from America has African heritage along with the French and German. This woman is looking for information about her African family – if there is anybody left.
 
Another case involves  a woman whose husband seems to be cheating on her. It’s found out that he’s spending a lot of time at a “dance hall for singles,” aka The Evening Club.” (LOL!) It gets a bit twisty. 

The stories just move along powered by the characters and their ways. Violet Sepotho has been a recurrent aggravation since volume 6, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. She’s around here, but in the background anyway. And Clovis Anderson, the original detective of this bunch, makes an appearance via shared memories and a book. Mr JLB Matekoni, Precious’ husband, and Charlie, a part-time mechanic and apprentice detective have somewhat larger rolls here and Grace Makutsi. assistant to Precious, is certainly around.