Review of "In the Time of Five Pumpkins: A No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel" by Alexander McCall Smith

  

In this 26th book in the 'No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series - set in Gaborone, Botswana - the sleuths look into their clients' marital problems, and Mma Ramotswe is concerned about her husband's new friend. The book can be read as a standalone but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.





*****

Mma Precious Ramotswe is the founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.....



.....and her assistant Mma Grace Makutski began as the agency's secretary. Over time, Grace promoted herself to assistant detective, associate detective, co-director and so on, and she's now calling herself executive president for development. Mma Ramotswe doesn't mind what title Grace uses, as long as the work of the business gets done.



The agency also has a part-time employee called Charlie, who splits his time between the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, owned by Mma Ramotswe's husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. Both businesses occupy the same premises, so Charlie can go back and forth as needed.



Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutski acquired their sleuthing skills from a book called 'The Principles of Private Detection' by Clovis Anderson, whose wise counsel is sprinkled throughout the story.

The detective agency sees it share of troubled people, and that's the case with Mr. Excellence Modise, a flashy, middle-aged man who owns a successful pest control business.



Mr. Modise tells Mma Ramotswe that his wife has lost interest in him, and he thinks she has a lover. Mma Ramotswe isn't surprised because Clovis Anderson wrote: "Unfaithfulness is the bread and butter of our profession. Unfaithfulness, I'm sorry to say, is everywhere."

Mma Ramotswe agrees to investigate Mr. Modise's wife, but the situation gets more complicated when the lady herself, Mma Modise, comes to the detective agency. Mma Modise says her husband is having an affair, and she wants Mma Ramotswe to find out who the woman is.



This conflict of interest puts the detective agency on the horns of a dilemma, and things turn out to be more complicated than anticipated.

Mma Ramotswe becomes concerned about a personal situation as well. Her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni....



.....has an acquaintance called Mr. Freddie Mogorosi, a wealthy man who owns one of the largest garages in Botswana. Mr. Mogorosi is urging Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni to serve on a government committee concerned with the motor trade, and he's invited J.L.B. to go fishing with him.



J.L.B. is pleased to have this new friend, but Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are suspicious of Mr. Mogorosi's motives. Moreover, after a fishing incident with a crocodile, Charlie - who's overheard some talk in Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors - suggests Mr. Mogorosi plans to kill J.L.B. to get his garage.



Mma Ramotswe often consults her best friend, Mma Potokwane - director of the local Orphan Farm - when she's troubled. So Mma Ramotswe visits Mma Potokwane to discuss her concerns, and the two ladies chat over tea and fruit cake.



Mma Potokwane also shows off her 'competitive pumpkins', which she's growing to enter in the Tlokweng Agricultural Show.



These novels always have a bit of wry humor, and in this story Mr. Mogorosi makes the mistake of referring to Mma Makutsi as a secretary. Mma Makutsi can't let it pass, and tells Mr. Mogorosi, "Not every woman whom you find in an office, Rra, is a secretary, you know. Some women in offices are the boss - or, as in this particular case, the executive president for business development."



Mr. Mogorosi responds, "I have never heard of such a person....but if that is what you are, then of course that is what you are." To add to the fun, Mma Makuski's talking shoes weigh in about Mr. Mogorisi, saying, "That man, bad news if you ask us, Boss."



As events progress, Mma Ramotswe makes some interesting discoveries, and everyone is a little wiser by the end of the book. Like always, Mma Ramotswe demonstrates her usual empathy for all people, including wrongdoers. The world would probably be a better place if everyone had Mma Ramotswe's wise compassion.

I'm a big fan of these books, which are more slices of life than detective stories. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Alexander McCall Smith, and Pantheon for a copy of the book.

 Rating: 4 stars 

Review of "Marble Hall Murders: A Susan Ryeland Mystery" by Anthony Horowitz

 

 

 

In this 3rd book in the 'Susan Ryeland' series, the literary editor deals with a troubled author and his family. The series is best read in order to avoid spoilers.

Each book in this series is a 'mystery within a mystery'. That is, Susan must resolve a fictional crime that has a connection to a real-life incident.

*****

For years, Susan Ryeland was an editor with London's 'Cloverleaf Books', where she worked with Alan Conway on his best-selling Atticus Pünd mystery series.



When Conway died, the series ended, and Susan moved to Crete with her boyfriend to open a hotel. Crete was too quiet for Susan, and she's now back in London, looking for work.

As it happens, the Atticus Pünd series is being revived. Michael Flynn, publisher of 'Causton Books', bought the rights, and hired Eliot Crace to pen the next book and Susan to edit.



All the Atticus Pünd books include codes, allusions, jests, anagrams, acronyms, and Easter Eggs, and Eliot is following that trend. Eliot is calling his book 'Pünd's Last Case' and has finished about half the novel so far. In a nutshell, the new story goes like this:

📔 📔 📔 📔 📔

It's 1955, and Atticus Pünd runs into a wealthy acquaintance, Lady Margaret Chalfont, at a London medical clinic.



Lady Margaret is troubled about something she overheard, and asks Pünd to come to her summer home, Chateau Belmar on the Côte d’Azur, to look into the matter.



Pünd and his assistant James Fraser, whose French is amusingly sketchy, make the trip to the Chateau Belmar, but they're too late. Lady Margaret is dead, poisoned with aconite.



A French Sûreté officer, Frédéric Voltaire - who has war injuries - arrives to investigate, and enlists the help of Atticus Pünd.



Voltaire and Pünd learn that Lady Margaret's entire family is in residence at Chateau Belmar. This includes her son Jeffrey with his wife Lola; her daughter Judith with her husband Harry.....



......and her second husband Elmer Waysmith and his son Robert, who work together as art dealers.



Each member of the younger generation needs money for some reason - such as gambling, making an investment, or doing research - and they all become suspects for Lady Margaret's murder. Lady Margaret's husband Elmer isn't off the hook either. Elmer is suspected of buying paintings stolen by the Nazis, which Lady Margaret would abhor.



In any case, Lady Margaret made an appointment with her lawyer, which may have precipitated her homicide.

📔 📔 📔 📔 📔

After reading Eliot Crace's unfinished manuscript, Susan meets with Eliot to discuss the story. Susan realizes Eliot has a problem with drugs and alcohol; is estranged from most of his family; and seems like a troubled soul.



Susan also discovers that 'Pünd's Last Case' has parallels with the real-life Crace family. Two decades ago, Eliot Crace's grandmother, Miriam Crace, died suddenly.



Both fictional Lady Margaret and real-life Miriam Crace can be described as wealthy women who lived on large estates with their extended families. Fictional Lady Margaret was poisoned and Miriam's death was attributed to a heart attack.....but was it‽‽

Susan suspects Eliot may "know something" and might plan to expose the truth in his book. Susan considers it her responsibility as the novel's editor to look into the matter.



Thus we learn that Miriam Crace, a children's book author, wrote the 'Little People' series. The 'Little People' became a worldwide phenomenon, and inspired graphic novels, a cartoon series, a hugely popular musical, three feature films, a ride at Universal Studios and a vast array of merchandise.



Miriam bought Marble Hall Manor.....



.......and resided there with all her children and grandchildren.



Susan notes that 'Marble' is an anagram for Lady Margaret's summer home 'Belmar', and the names of characters in 'Pünd's Last Case' are anagrams for people in Miriam's family. To investigate further, Susan visits Marble Hall Manor, which is now a tourist destination, and speaks to some of Miriam's children and grandchildren.

Susan learns Miriam, who was beloved by the public, was hated by her family. Miriam was cruel and sarcastic, and kept her progeny under her thumb by controlling the purse strings. Miriam's now grown grandchildren - Roland, Julia, and Eliot - admit they had a plot to kill their grandmother with poison, but insist it was just a childish scheme.



The growing hubbub surrounding 'Pünd's Last Case' results in a further tragedy, and Susan herself becomes a murder suspect, as has happened previously.



There's a tangential storyline connected to previous novels in the series, so 'nuff said' - to avoid spoilers for newbies who plan to read all the books.

In the end, 'Pünd's Last Case' is solved, and the truth about Miriam Crace's death is exposed. To be fair, author Anthony Horowitz drops lots of clues, some of which I twigged, but some of which were buried too deeply for me. (Other armchair sleuths may do better.)

I enjoyed the book, and Horowitz put A LOT of work into his brainteasers, but the book's premise seems unlikely. Susan is a book editor, not a detective, and she's overzealous about investigating Eliot's family history. I kept thinking, "I wouldn't answer this nosybody's questions, I'd throw her out." That said, the book is a nice homage to 'Golden Age' mysteries and should appeal to fans of the genre.

 Rating: 3.5 stars