The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith
| The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: Utterly delightful, as ever. Get your cup of tea and slice of cake ready... | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 256 | Date: September 2014 |
| Publisher: Little, Brown | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781408704332 | |
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When I finished the fourteenth novel in this series I felt very warm and happy. Things were going so well for all the characters, and it seemed that Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi had reached a wonderful high in their friendship. Of course, these things cannot last and, surprisingly, I found that I was rather glad of the return of some of Mma Makuti's more outspoken nature! Just what is she getting up to this time?
She's come a long way from Bobonong, rising up from the heights of achieving the unheard of score of 97% at secretarial college through to becoming firstly a secretary, then an assistant detective, right through to a partner in the detective agency belonging to Mma Ramotswe. She met and married Phuti, moving further up in the world, and gave birth to her little boy, Itumeleng. Yet Mma Makutsi is not content to rest on her laurels, and whilst continuing to work at the detective agency she is also looking into setting up her own restaurant! Does she know enough about the restaurant business to cope? Will the detective agency suffer as a consequence? Well, you'll get to find out!
Mma Makutsi always used to make me feel rather uncomfortable at the start of this series. She has a habit of just saying things, without really thinking about it or about the effect she may have on others with her words. I suppose I got used to her after a while, and perhaps she mellowed a little too, but in this book her tactlessness is back out with aplomb and I thoroughly enjoyed cringing at some of the remarks she makes! I also enjoy seeing how Mma Ramotswe deals with her. I'm sure I would lose my temper much sooner, and not be quite so fair and understanding! Mma Ramotswe certainly continues to be someone I'd want to be friends with. I love the insight into her thought-processes, and just the gentle rhythm of her day to day life.
Still, after the harmony of the previous book, this time around we have some upheaval with someone we know and love losing their job (don't be silly, if I told you who it was that would ruin it!), the threat of someone possibly gaining 98% at the secretarial college thereby outdoing Mma Makutsi, as well as lots of people pretending to be someone they're not. Mma Ramotswe takes everything in her stride and, to my delight, makes several visits to discuss things with Mma Potokwani, the lady who runs the Orphan Farm. I do like her as a character. She's grown on me over the series until I find I am hoping she will be consulted on one matter or another, so that we get to see how she's getting along.
I find that when I recommend these stories to friends they either read one and then immediately demand that I loan them the entire series, or else they read a chapter or two and never get any further. For AMS fans (which you must surely be if you're thinking about reading story number fifteen!) then rest assured this is another good one, with talking shoes and everything. I raced through it, sighed happily, and then wondered when the next one would be ready to read! Get your pj's on and your mug of redbush tea and settle in for another delightful story!
The previous book in the series is The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. You might also like to try this standalone novel Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party.
Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series in Chronological Order
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith at Amazon.com.
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