Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (Mystery Novel)

Reading the latest installment in the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series by Alexander McCall Smith is always like catching up with old friends. Reading the fourteenth book, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, was no exception. I found a Mma Ramotswe who was less sure of herself, questioning her role as a detective. While Mma Makutsi adjusts to motherhood, the relationship between her and Mma Ramotswe also undergoes a transformation. Even the seemingly unchangeable Charlie is transformed by the end of the novel.

For me, Mma Ramotswe’s cases take a backseat to the character development in The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. In one case, Mma Ramotswe tries to find the source of a mysterious feather sent to the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon and later of a smear campaign. In the second case, Mma Ramotswe is asked by a lawyer to disprove that a young man is the rightful heir to an inheritance.

Clea Simon has a very nice review of The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon in The Boston Globe.

I never get tired of reading the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. While I am reading the books, I always feel that people are basically good and that life will somehow turn out alright in the end.

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