THE MINOR ADJUSTMENT BEAUTY SALON by Alexander McCall Smith (Knopf Canada), 242 pages, $30 cloth. Rating: NNNN
I was introduced to Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels by my brother, who lives in Botswana, where the stories are set. When they weren’t yet available here, he’d bring along on visits the newest instalment in this delightful series, now up to number 14.
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon finds Precious Ramotswe, the detective agency’s sole investigator, pondering the mysteries of human behaviour and the great dome of African sky over the Kalahari in between sips of red bush tea. While Botswana waits for the rains to come, Mma Ramotswe has two tricky cases to solve – one involving an inheritance and possible false identity, the other a smear campaign against a beauty parlour.
Ever the optimist, she believes that people are good at heart and that Botswana hasn’t changed in the things that really matter. It’s the tension between the traditional ways and the modern country that makes the novels more than merely charming in that small-village British way. And McCall Smith infuses the book with compassionate, funny philosophical musings on everything from the notion of animals having souls to whether liars can have true friends.
While there’s no blood shed – these are small crimes of jealousy, envy and greed – the spectre of AIDS and its toll on Africa is front and centre at the orphans home run by Mma Ramtoswe’s friend.
My brother always said that McCall Smith’s portrayal of Botswana is wholly romanticized. Still, every sentence conveys a beloved country where the air is pure and dry and carries the scent of cattle and dust and acacia.
Alexander McCall Smith reads on Tuesday (November 12) at the Brigantine Room. See Readings.
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