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Title: A special sort of detective story.
Review: If you're looking for Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, or Patricia Cornwell here, don't bother. This book is as much -- or more -- an extended excursion into the mind-set of Africa and especially of its female population as it is a set of sleuth puzzles. It's hard to believe that this book was written by a Scottish male. It's also a very rich and rewarding socialogical study of life in what the author considers to be one of the most successful post-colonial nations in Africa. It is episodic -- a series of cases rather than one single extended case -- and there is so much time spent on the background of the protagonist and the lifestyle of Botswana that the avid mystery fan is likely to be quite frustrated. But it is a story with its own wonderful rewards, a singularity that should be judged on its own merits rather than how it may fit into an established scheme.
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