While I loved the first two books in this series, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in the third. There didn't seem to be an overall story to tie the book together. I liked it enough to continue reading the series, so I hope book 4 picks back up again. ( )

In the third installment in this series, the mysteries involve the contestants in a beauty pageant, a feral child, and a government man who suspects his sister-in-law of trying to poison his brother.

Along the way Mma Ramotswe and her sidekick Mma Makutsi ponder whether one can justifiably remain friends with a bad person, conflicting impulses towards actions we know are good for us and those we know aren't, why men maltreat women, and whether phrenology is reliable. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni suffers from clinical depression.

The charm of the deceptively simple language grows on you in these books, and it is easy to glide past the difficult situations they describe and moral questions they raise and invite you to consider. ( )

The third book in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, and has the same simple style, easy reading content, and sensible wisdom from Botswana. Good stuff. Read January 2009 ( )

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Mma Ramotswe finds herself in financial difficulty in the third installment of this popular series.

The No. One Ladies' Detective Agency books are all quick, charming reads in which Alexander McCall Smith's love of Africa shines through on every page, but I'm sorry to say that they're also rather sameish.

This one does have a lot going on. We've got a financial worries storyline, a revamping the garage storyline, a beauty pageant storyline, an alleged poisoning storyline, and a depression storyline, plus some stuff about a boy raised by lions. Sounds exciting, I know, but none of the storylines really get enough screen time. Mma Ramotswe is having money troubles. McCall Smith mentions them, provides her with a couple of possible solutions, and drops the issue. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is depressed. We hear very little about it... and then the book ends. Mma Makutsi's improvements to the garage get a little bit more attention, but her investigation into the pageant contestants is quite brief and rather unsatisfying. Ditto for Mma Ramotswe's poisoning case. The lion boy is set up as an important mystery, but his story is never dealt with in any depth or properly resolved.

The book is charming and sweet, and McCall Smith's affection for his characters and for Botswana itself makes the story a joy to read. But it's nothing of any great consequence; it's pleasant, but ultimately unmemorable. There are lots of bits and pieces, but nothing is really deep enough to hold my attention. I decided after the second book that I'd start passing the series along if the third one didn't push things forward in a pretty big way. I'll continue to read the series, but it looks like they'll be heading to Cover to Cover instead of joining my permanent collection.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )