By Alexander Mccall Smith
Pantheon | 224pgs
Release Date: April 20, 2010

Botswana’s intrepid lady detectives return in The Double Comfort Safari Club, the eleventh installment of Alexander Mccall Smith’s charming No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. Precious Ramotswe and her assistant detective Grace Makutsi tackle a variety interesting cases, investigating a potentially adulterous husband and extricating another client from the clutches of a gold-digging girlfriend. Mma Makutsi also battles personal difficulties as well. Her patience is growing thin, waiting for her fiancé Phuti Radiphuti to set a wedding date. But, things get worse when he suffers a serious leg injury and his abrasive aunt does everything in her power to keep Grace from visiting him in the hospital. A more upbeat case involving an unexpected inheritance sends the ladies to a safari lodge on the Okavango Delta, where the stunning beauty of nature leaves them in awe. Yet, the beautiful landscape is soon forgotten when a guest turns up dead, and the detective duo work to solve the case with their unique mix of logic and compassion.

Along with the wildly popular No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mccall Smith has written several other well-known series including the Isabel Dalhousie series and the 44 Scotland Street series. Serving as professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, his focus is bioethics and medical practice. In his off hours, he plays the bassoon, and has co-founded The Really Terrible Orchestra. Critics and readers alike have a warm spot for lady detective Mma Ramotswe, and The Double Comfort Safari Club is getting a lot of positive buzz. Allison Block of Booklist summarizes: “Even after nearly a dozen installments, McCall Smith manages to keep his series engaging and fresh.