THE MINOR ADJUSTMENT BEAUTY SALON

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon is the fourteenth book in the popular Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by British author, Alexander McCall Smith. Botswana’s first female private detective has a few interesting cases to solve: a solicitor asks her to verify the identity of a young man who is the beneficiary of a will; and the proprietor of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon is subject to threats and slander from an unknown quarter. All the more challenging for Mma Ramotswe, as Mma Makutsi is off having a baby. Mma Makutsi faces childbirth with ease, although she has slightly less aplomb when dealing with a cobra in her new house. While it seems Phuti’s interfering aunt may be a problem with the baby, apprentice Charlie’s reaction to this Radiphuti baby is indeed a surprise. And has the terrible Violet Sephoto been up to more mischief? Mma Ramotswe muses on flats and hats, ants and aunts, names, wet nurses, superstitions and traditional ways, other people’s marriages, beer and beauty treatments, the effect of hot weather on business, taking the time to listen, optimistic accounting, the entire truth, protecting one’s sources and private milk. She counts her blessings, misses Grace, finds the perfect present for the baby, gets her tiny white van comprehensively stuck in the mud, has her feet lovingly washed and receives a charming letter from Clovis Anderson, that revered author of the Principles of Private Detection. There are no prizes for guessing which of the apprentices finally qualifies as a mechanic. Mr J L B Matekoni takes steps to become a modern husband, one of which includes baked beans and sausages. As usual, this instalment is charming, uplifting and heart-warming.