18) The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith
More laid-back Botswana tales, with lots of incident and little plot - indeed, the only actual bit of detection for the detective agency peters out half-way through, as if the author had lost interest in it.

5) The Kalahari Typing School for Men, by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the fourth I've read, and the fourth in the series, though I have been reading them out of sequence. As usual, the homely wisdom of the old ways wins out, sins are expiated rather than necessarily exposed, and everyone is back in the right place at the end; but McCall Smith has brought some darker elements in here as well, including a child with AIDS. A decent quick read.

5) In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, by Alexander McCall Smith

Having enjoyed the first of these three years ago, and bounced off the second, I finally got around to this one thanks to my self-imposed reading programme.

Yes, an enjoyable book. Not a lot actually happens; by the end of the book almost everyone is pretty much back where they started, but older, wiser and perhaps even a little happier. A gentle, undemanding narrative, with some nice moments of character observation.

Top UnSuggestion for this book:

1. How to read the Bible for all its worth : a guide to understanding the Bible by Gordon D. Fee
2. Design patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software by Erich Gamma
3. Cunt: a declaration of independence by Inga Muscio

10) Tears of the Giraffe, by Alexander McCall Smith

More light reading for me, sequel to The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Actually this is very light reading. The actual mystery is not very mysterious, and is resolved by our heroine by feminine intuition - ( minor spoiler ) I'll try one more of these but unless something actually happens I'll leave it there.

9) The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith

A really charming book, and I hope that the real Botswana is as friendly and laid-back as the Botswana portrayed here (I know that George Monbiot has harsher things to say about the place). This isn't really a novel, more a loosely linked series of cheerful vignettes, as if the author was doing a series of trial pieces to try out his writing skills. But all very nice, with on the whole happy endings to each of them.