Review: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency detects again in 'Far and Lovely Country'

"I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" is the name of an album by the late Sinéad O'Connor but also an idea expressed in several ways by characters in "From a Far and Lovely Country."

O'Connor's appreciate-your-life sentiment could work as the title for almost all 24 of Alexander McCall Smith's books about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, featuring Precious Ramotswe, a contented Botswanan whose neighbors hire her to help solve everyday problems from errant spouses to troublesome employees.

There are no murders in Smith's books, which are less about crime-solving than figuring out how to be a happy, decent person. In "Far and Lovely Country," that involves a dress that doesn't fit, a vice principal who loses his job and Violet Sephoto, the amoral nemesis of Ramotswe's brash assistant, Grace Makutsi.

The comfy-coziness of this series is a huge part of its appeal; Ramotswe, who taught herself to be a detective using a manual, wouldn't know what to do with a major crime and neither would we. Still, Smith consistently finds ways to move the books forward and keep them fresh. Here, that means an increased role for Ramotswe's apprentice Charlie and some huge errors on the part of the agency.

One trademark of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books is that they amble along, filled with descriptions of the beauty of Africa and its creatures, until everything wraps up happily. Toward the end of "Far and Lovely Country," fans may wonder if Smith is going to be able to pull that off. With a dozen pages left, none of the three major dilemmas in the book has been satisfactorily resolved.

No worries, though. Smith gets there in a sweetly sentimental finale that, like every one of its 23 predecessors, races toward a reminder to appreciate the people and places we love.

From a Far and Lovely Country

By: Alexander McCall Smith.

Publisher: Pantheon, 239 pages, $28.