Smith, Alexander McCall (In the Company of Cheerful Ladies)

This almost doesn't merit a review. I mean, it's a mystery series. They're all essentially the same, so you could just go read my review of the previous book instead. What keeps them fresh for me is the continuing desire to actually meet someone like Mma Ramotswe in real life. What would she sound like? What would her mannerisms be? In this volume, you learn that she has wide feet and a surprising difficulty facing up to a particular part of her past, but in all other aspects she remains the same. We are introduced to a couple new characters, but the environs also remain the same. I suppose the books are comfort 'food'. You can read them in bed or on the beach, and not worry about your mind drifting to other things because when it returns to the book it will be familiar and understandable and essentially the same as when you left it.