To illustrate the brilliant evenhandedness with which McCall Smith plays the two cultures against each other, here is a conversation between Mma Potokwane and Mr JLB Matekoni that takes place in Tears of the Giraffe, the second book of the series." She quotes the conversation in Tears of the Giraffe between Mr JLB Matekoni and Mma Potokwane, matron of the orphan farm, after she has been reading some of Freud's works, finding them not wholly useful. She says that "The passage is a tour de force of double-edged irony" and she considers some of the remarks in that dialogue worthy of Mark Twain. She mentions the "playfulness" of McCall Smith in these novels, keeping them from being heavy-handed morality tales. Publication history Per Kirkus Reviews, the novels had their American publication later than in the UK. The first three novels appeared in 2002 in the US. In their review of the first novel in the series, Kirkus Reviews notes that "The first American publication of this 1999 debut has been preceded by two special Booker citations and two sequels, Tears of the Giraffe (2000) and Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001), both forthcoming in the series." References External links Penguin Readers Teacher Support Programme Teacher’s notes Level 4 for Tears of the Giraffe 2000 British novels Novels by Alexander McCall Smith Novels set in Botswana The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Polygon Books books