After the ladies converse over tea and fruit cake, Mma Ramotswe learns that a new orphan girl, who arrived with a broken wrist, was forced to work for a wealthy family without pay. What is the alchemy that makes this series so successful? Certainly at the start, there was the novelty. It’s unusual for an English-language series to be set in Botswana, or at least, it was when this one began. But it takes a lot more than that to sustain a series over so many years. As the story unfolds we also hear from Mma Makutski's 'talking shoes' which are always good for a laugh. This book focuses on the mechanic, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. He is a good man, a kind man, a dependable man. He takes a literal approach to much of life. When at a business seminar, hearing about "networking" (<- about which he is clueless) he is worried that there may not be time to eat lunch. How long does it take to network?

Traditional mystery and thriller readers may find the pace too slow with way too much interior, contemplative monologue; however, Alexander McCall Smith in many places is expert at conveying a great deal within a short description. Mr JLB Matekoni, husband of Number One Ladies’ Detective agency proprietor Mma Precious Ramotswe, is feeling uncertain about the future of his business, leading to a possible risky course of action. In the meantime, the detective ladies Ramotswe and Makutsi are hired to investigate an issue of the nurse of an elderly man being named to inherit his family home. Connections with others were what made life bearable…We all need reassurance, she thought. We all need people to tell us that everything is going to be all right, even when it is not, and that we should not worry, even when we clearly need to be concerned about something. We are only human, after all, and that is why reassurance is so important to us. That is undoubtedly well known." Their client is a wealthy man who has discovered that his elderly father has left his house in a will to a younger woman who has been his nurse for 10 years. He is dismayed that the evil woman has unduly influenced his father to do so and wants her investigated.Another delightful story from Alexander McCall Smith. In this story Mma Precious Ramotswe makes incorrect assumptions about several people and then learns she is incorrect. Haven’t we all done that at sometime in our life. she sipped at her 1st cup of red bush tea, not in any hurry to do whatever it was that she had to do next. That, of course, is always a good time to think - when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.” That, of course, is always a good time to think—when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.” As always, the setting of this latest in the #1 Ladies Detective series in Botswana is an escape for all non-Botswana readers. Seldom has an author made a foreign country and its people sound so attractive.

But even as she puzzles over mysteries on the domestic front, Mma Ramotswe’s professional duties must take precedence. When a concerned son learns that his aging father’s nurse now stands to inherit the family home, he begins to doubt her intentions and takes his case to Botswana’s premier detective agency. Fortunately, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi, committed agents of justice, agree to investigate. In spite of her limited stature, Mma Pula-Pula had about her a strong confident air of authority. But it was not authority of the sort that one would encounter in a school principal or a magistrate or somebody of that sort: this was the authority of the bully.” The rub is that Mr. Matekoni has to borrow thousands of dollars for the start-up enterprise, and plans to use his business - Tloweng Road Speedy Motors - as collateral. Mma Ramotswe, who fears the bus company will fail, is VERY troubled by the plan and hopes to nip it in the bud. In another plot line, their client, Mr. Baboloki Mophephu, has come to them because he is concerned that his very wealthy father, Mr. Fidelis Mophephu, has left his farm and farmhouse to his long-time nurse. The son suspects undue influence and wants the agency to investigate. But both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are wary because of their instinctual dislike of their client. It's a lot of fun to follow their investigation and the creative solution that emerges.

It’s a reliably great set of books that get better with each reread; it’s just that simple. The audio narrator was the same for the first twenty books. She must have retired, which broke my heart at first because she was so wonderful, changing voices for each character and getting their personalities absolutely perfect in each performance. For book 21, the person was not good, and I don’t recommend listening to that one. In this one, Recorded Books once again found a good narrator. She is no Lisette Lecat, because that would be impossible, but I will once again look forward to not only reading, but listening to, the books that follow.