IN RECENT years the character Precious Ramotswe has become quite a hero – and so, too, has her creator Alexander McCall Smith. It is always a delight when McCall Smith s sleuth is involved in yet another case for her No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. This is

IN RECENT years the character Precious Ramotswe has become quite a hero - and so, too, has her creator Alexander McCall Smith. It is always a delight when McCall Smith's sleuth is involved in yet another case for her No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

This is a woman detective who is determined, but has charm and humour, too, and is, it has to be said, completely removed from resembling Agatha Christie's Mrs Maples. McCall Smith, who in everyday life is a professor of medical law, is vivid in his story-telling.

His return to the characters at the detective agency in The Miracle at Speedy Motors has all touches of the skill he displayed in earlier works such as The Good Husband of Zebra Drive and In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. ****