The Great Hippopotamus Hotel: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (25)

“This Bostwana series is reliably satisfying in how the ‘people problems’ eventually resolve, and Book 25 is no exception. . . . It will take Mma Ramotswe’s recovery, insight, and firm advice to straighten out the final twists.”

Although this is the 25th title in Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Precious Ramotswe and her assistant, now co-director, Mma Grace Makutsi, have aged very little. Both are now married and parents, but Mma Ramotswe’s little white van is still chugging along (a bit uncomfortable for a woman of her traditional build), and so is the Botswana motor car repair shop owned by Mma Ramotswe’s husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, with the ladies’ detective agency tucked into the premises.

The agency’s methods of operation—based mostly on an American-authored book that both ladies study and discuss—also have not changed: “The best known of Mma Ramotswe’s roles was that of helper of others. Right from the beginning, the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency had been about helping people with their lives.” As Mma Ramotswe informs a friend, she does not investigate crimes. “I help people with things that are worrying them.” Her best tool is saying to a person, “Tell me about yourself.”

However, several unusual issues arise: Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is facilitating a car purchase for the wealthy Mr. Mo Mo Malala, who seems in the midst of a midlife crisis: buying a flashy and speedy sports car that he intends to hide from his large and overbearing wife. Grace Makutsi’s uncle tells her of someone possibly involved with the malicious and treacherous Violet Sephotho, whom Mma Makutsi has reason to mistrust deeply. And the third item pulls the detective agency toward a fresh confrontation with Violet Sephotho’s possible maneuvering.

This straw on the camel’s back—or, more familiarly to the ladies, this elephant suddenly appearing where nobody expects one—is a request from a friend of a friend that draws Mma Ramotswe’s attention to The Great Hippopotamus Hotel. A series of uncomfortable and even dangerous events at the hotel suggest someone is trying to crush the prosperous roadside business.

“It is a very worrying story,” the hotel manager emphasizes. “Not just for me, Mma Ramotswe, but for other people who do not have what I have. It is easy for a manager—I can always get another job, but some of my staff cannot. If this hotel goes out of business, then that is the end for them, Mma. It is that serious.” And yes, he expects to pay.

Unexpectedly, there’s a second round of the food poisoning that has struck hotel guests in the past. This time, Mma Ramotswe is the prime victim, and when she is sent for bed rest to recover from the illness, her co-director Grace Makutsi steps into the shoes of agency leadership.

Well, maybe that’s overstating it a bit: Mma Makutsi is really just trying out the case notebook and spending a little time in Mma Ramotswe’s capacious chair at the office. She wouldn’t let go of her own shoes, of which she has many pairs. This is partly because, as readers of the series may recall, Mma Makutsi’s blue shoes sometimes talk to her.

But shoes that talk may not be enough to keep the very efficient and eager Mma Makutsi from making some risky errors with the people around her, errors that Mma Ramotswe usually could steer away from. Nor can Mr. Matekoni assist, as his problems with the sports car buyer and soon owner grow in size.

This Bostwana series is reliably satisfying in how the “people problems” eventually resolve, and Book 25 is no exception. Series readers will find it especially satisfying that it will take Mma Ramotswe’s recovery, insight, and firm advice to straighten out the final twists.