Precious and Grace

The theme of finding home runs through Alexander McCall Smith's “Precious and Grace” (2016), the 17th volume in his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. So does forgiveness, or the need for forgiveness as much for the wronged as for the one who did the wrong.

This may sound like heavy stuff for a novel that seems light and fluffy when you are reading it, but that is often the case with McCall Smith's novels. There's usually a hard nut or two somewhere in his creamy mixture of chocolate and peanut butter.

A Canadian woman named Susan who spent her girlhood in Botswana comes to the detective agency asking Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi to find the house where she once lived and, in particular, the woman who cared for her, someone show more named Rosie.

Meanwhile Fanwell, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentice mechanic, returns with a stray dog. That dog, it turns out, needs a home even more than Susan does, thus giving Precious two assignments, even if only one has a fee involved.

Finding Rosie and the place where Susan grew up turn out to be relatively easy, even if the task does involve a close call with a poisonous snake. The real challenge becomes discovering why this woman wants to find Rosie and what she plans to do after she does.

What's really needed, Precious decides, is not reunion but forgiveness. Forgiveness is grace, and grace is a very precious thing. show less

These books really are the reading equivalent of comfort food. I met someone today who told me that she had "never been able to get on with them." I was surprised because for me it is the opposite: I always expect to enjoy them. They are not deep mysteries but the situations depicted them show an incredible understanding of what makes people tick, and the solutions are dispensed with just a touch of philosophy.

There are reminders always that the setting is not the West, but Botswana, a country struggling to find its place in the 21st century. Technology is changing the world. Even Precious Ramotswe's husband Mr. J.L.B Matekone comments on how much cars have changed, making them so difficult for him to repair.

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi show more are now co-directors of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and that situation breeds its own frictions, and I enjoyed their interaction.

So if you haven't ever read these, and would like something light and cozy to read, give this series a try. But I would advise starting at the beginning. show less

In this, the 17th book in a series that began with The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Botswana’s sole detective, Precious Ramotswe, is faced with two difficult assignments: to hunt down the African nursemaid of a white woman who was born in Botswana but returned to Canada with her Canadian aid worker parents as a young child, and to get to the bottom of an apparent Ponzi scheme which has ensnared the hard-working but naïve Mr. Polopetsi, high-school chemistry teacher and part-time employee at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

My sister-in-law and I impatiently await each new volume in this series, and Precious and Grace lived up to the anticipation. All the old favorites make an appearance: Precious’ kind and loyal husband, Mr. show more J.L.B. Matekoni, Silvia Potokwani, the redoubtable matron of the orphan farm; Charlie and Fanwell, the garage’s one-time apprentices; and, of course, Grace Makutsi, the determined and proud recipient of the Botswana Secretarial College’s 97 percent distinction, now a wife, mother, and agency co-director. Rounding out the novel are Grace’s memories of her late father, the long-suffering and wise Obed Ramotswe, and an encounter with Grace’s nemesis Violet Sepotho, who is up to yet more mischief.

As always, the best way to savor Mma Ramotswe’s adventures is by listening to the audiobook narrated by Lissette Lecat —always a treat! show less

Book number 17 in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. In this one, Fanwell accidentally acquires a dog, Mr. Polopetsi gets involved in a shady business scheme, and the ladies help a Canadian woman who spent her childhood in Botswana and has returned looking for people she once knew and places she half-remembers.

As usual, this is just pure, warm, comfort reading, perfect for when you're having a stressful day. It is also one of the installments where I'm genuinely curious to see how the investigation comes out, although, of course, that's not really about the plot, any more than anything else in this series is.

Seventeen books in, and I'm still amazed that I've never gotten tired of these, but I'm certainly not complaining!

Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi have been working together at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency for several years now. Over that time, Mma Makutsi has gone from secretary to co-director, largely through her own determination and assertiveness. Charlie, originally one of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentices, has been let go from that position, and is now Mma Ramotswe's very part-time assistant--and is starting, at last, to grow up. Fanwell, the other apprentice, is on track to be a qualified mechanic, and is also maturing. Mr. Polopetsi is a volunteer part-time assistant, contributing his special skills when he's needed and not filling in as a chemistry teacher in the schools. Then one day Mma Ramotswe finds out from her friend Mma show more Potokwani, matron of the orphan farm, that Mr. Polopetsi has a new money-making business scheme, the Fat Cattle Club, which sounds very much like a pyramid scheme. She's got to find out what's really going on before he gets himself into serious trouble.

A new client also appears, a Canadian woman named Susan Peters, who spent part of her childhood in Botswana, and would like to find her old home, and her old nursemaid. She paints an idyllic picture of her memories of her early years there, and Mma Ramotswe is happy to help her.

As always, this is a slower-moving, quiet story, more focused on the characters and relationships than intense mystery-solving. It's what I love about these books, and why they remain popular after seventeen entries in the series. Mma Ramotswe is wise and kind but not infallible; Mma Makutsi is difficult, often insecure and suspicious, but ultimately loyal and sound.

I love these books for their gentleness, their character development, and the recognition that people can be good even though we're all flawed.

Recommended.

I bought this book. show less

Precious and Grace continue to work well together mostly through Precious' kindly patience, tolerance and wisdom. Even though Grace is intelligent she is keenly sensitive to what people say, and how they say it. If those words and manners don't meet with her expectations she can easily she make a hasty and incorrect decision. Precious has learned to navigate this emotional and stubborn land mine of an employee to help Grace see the truth clearly.

Precious uses a natural, wholesome spirituality to consider those that come to her for help. She handles them and their cases with a sweet disposition, understanding and sympathy. This innate ability to think about and treat others
humanely and non-judgmentally brings to mind Louise Penny's show more Armand Gamache who works similarly.

Would be interesting to have them meet and establish the Caring and Thoughtful Detectives Club. Of course, their modesty would prevent them from doing it. LOL

Precious and Grace is another winner in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. show less

Precious Ramotswe is the owner and principal of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency; Grace Makutski is her self-promoting sidekick/secretary/co-director. Together these two take on the problems of the townspeople of Gaborone in Botswana is a down-home, common-sense manner.

In this seventeenth book in the series, the ladies undertake the task of finding a long-lost nanny for a Canadian woman. They find her but uncover some other truths along the way. Several other perplexing situations present themselves as well – a stray dog who adopts the junior mechanic Fanwell, a business scheme that is too good to be true entangles another part-time employee, and of course there is the ever present nemesis of Grace and Precious – Violet Sephotho show more – who shows up in their lives once again. Altogether, another fine story with a mystery at its core.

McCall-Smith writes in a manner that is at once familiar and comforting. It is like sitting down with an old friend who tells you a personal story. Steady pacing moves the story along at a gentle rate, seeming not rushed yet revealing information at just the right moment. show less