When the Title Sells A Book

"The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon" by Alexander McCall Smith   Pantheon Books   242   $24.95

This is the 14th book in "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency: series by Smith.  As with the others, it is set Botswana and it features Mma Precious Ramotswe, the detective, her assistant, Mma Grace Makutsi and Precious' husband Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, who owns the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors garage. 

"Mma" (women) and "Rra" (male) are the equivalent of our "Ma'am" and "Sir."  Botswana seems to be a very formal place.  Mma only addresses her husband as Rra J.L.B. Matekoni. 

The book flies off into believable fantasy from time to time -- such as Mma Ramotswe's belief that a tangle of old telephone wires in a neighbor's back yard still have faint echoes of previous conversations spoken down them. 

Throughout Smith's writing in this series, there is a sense of gentle wonder at the countryside around the characters as well as a deep love for their part of Africa. 

Tact is wonderfully illustrated by the phrase "a traditionally-built woman" (fat.)   Merchants  choose expressive names for their businesses -- Mother and Baby could hardly be clearer; an electronics store named "Loud Sounds" ... the Double Comfort furniture store.  And, of course, the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon.