Book review: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith

The twenty-sixth book I read in 2015 is the thirteenth installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, and it's one of the best of the series.  Putting aside the sadness of Mr. Polopetsi's inexplicable absence, I was delighted that this book introduces a new character, who is not exactly new but whose influence has hovered over Precious Ramotswe's life from the first book.  No, not the Daddy, Obed Ramotswe, but someone almost as influential.

Just as Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are honored and pleased to make the acquaintance of this new arrival they already feel they know so well, they, in turn, provide inestimable help and comfort to him in the grand cycle of kindnesses repaid and worth recognized that the series depicts so well.  Continuing the theme, Mma Potokwane, who has been so helpful to the protagonists over the years, finds herself in need -- not a common situation for such a formidable woman -- and is rewarded for her good works by the loyalty and determination of her friends.

This was a delightful book which left me feeling warm and fuzzy ... and slightly wistful that the titular academy remains putative rather than actual.  Well, maybe in a future book in the series....