In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (no. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, #6)

The sixth installment in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series follows Precious Ramotswe, the founder of Botswana's only detective agency for women, as she contends with a threatening figure from her past, a stolen van, and the romantic entanglements of those around her. The Setswana honorific "Mma," similar to "Mrs.," is used throughout the novel for female characters.

On a Saturday morning in Gaborone, Mma Ramotswe sits at her favorite café reflecting on the erosion of old Botswana values. She witnesses a succession of petty dishonesty: a woman steals a bangle from a market trader, a waitress tries to extort extra money, and a customer advises her it is easier to skip a bill at hotels. These encounters distress Mma Ramotswe, who was raised by her late father, Obed Ramotswe, to be scrupulously honest.

At home on Zebra Drive, while her husband, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, and their two foster children, Motholeli and Puso, are away visiting a relative, Mma Ramotswe discovers signs of an intruder: a moved kettle and an open drawer. She searches the house, finds nothing, and lies down to rest. A moaning sound rises from beneath the bed, where her traditionally built frame presses the mattress onto someone hiding there. A man squirms out, his khaki trousers snagging on a bedspring, and flees in only a red shirt. By morning the trousers have vanished from the verandah, replaced by a large, ripe pumpkin.

At the detective agency, which shares premises with the garage, Mma Ramotswe's assistant, Grace Makutsi, confesses she prefers ordinary tea to Mma Ramotswe's bush tea, and they agree to keep separate pots. That same morning, Charlie, the older of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's two apprentices, arrives flashing a roll of cash. Mma Makutsi suspects he is being kept by a rich older woman. After work, they follow Charlie as he climbs into a silver Mercedes-Benz that turns into the driveway of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's rental property. Startled, Mma Ramotswe swerves and knocks a cyclist, Mr Polopetsi, off his bicycle. He has been unable to find work since serving two years in prison. Sensing he is a good man, Mma Ramotswe drives him home and later proposes to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni that they hire him for both businesses.

When Mma Makutsi discovers her new china tea-pot in the garage filled with diesel oil because Charlie used it to drain a fuel tank, a furious exchange follows. Charlie quits, declaring his rich friend with the Mercedes-Benz will support him. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is devastated. Mma Ramotswe devises a plan: hire Mr Polopetsi immediately so word reaches Charlie he has been replaced, and identify the married woman Charlie is seeing so her husband can be alerted.

That Friday, Mma Makutsi attends her first ballroom dancing class at the President Hotel. She is the last woman chosen for a partner: Phuti Radiphuti, who has a severe stutter and almost no sense of rhythm. After the class he offers to drive her home. She accepts out of kindness and agrees to return the following week.

Mma Ramotswe hires Mr Polopetsi, who over lunch tells his story: As a pharmacy assistant at Princess Marina Hospital, he misunderstood a pharmacist's instructions and dispensed the wrong medication. A woman died. The pharmacist lied about what happened, and Mr Polopetsi was convicted of culpable homicide, sentenced to two years while his wife and young daughters watched from the courtroom.

During a visit to the orphan farm, the matron, Mma Silvia Potokwane, casually mentions that Note Mokoti, Mma Ramotswe's first husband and a musician, has been seen in Gaborone. The news terrifies Mma Ramotswe: She never divorced Note, meaning her marriage to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni may be bigamous and legally invalid. Note soon appears at the garage, dismissive and cruel, demanding ten thousand pula (Botswana's currency) and threatening to report the bigamy to police. Mr Polopetsi, whose hearing is exceptionally sharp, overhears the exchange and tells Mma Makutsi. Both vow to protect Mma Ramotswe.

At the second dance class, Phuti Radiphuti grows more comfortable with Mma Makutsi, his stutter easing. He reveals he works at a furniture store. In the powder room, a former classmate named Violet Sephotho mocks Mma Makutsi's shoes and her partner. Mma Makutsi responds with disarming graciousness, leaving Violet speechless.

Mma Makutsi persuades Mr J.L.B. Matekoni to visit his rental property, where they discover it is operating as a shebeen, an illegal bar. It is run by Charlie's girlfriend, the Mercedes-Benz driver, whose husband lives in Johannesburg. Mma Makutsi obtains the husband's telephone number.

Mma Ramotswe drives to Note's family village south of Gaborone. Note is away, but his elderly mother reveals something pivotal: Note was already married to another woman before he married Mma Ramotswe. Their marriage was therefore void from the start, and her marriage to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is valid.

On the elated drive home, the tiny white van's engine dies. Mma Ramotswe walks to the main road for a ride back. The next morning, she returns to find the van stolen. Mr Polopetsi, using tracking skills learned from his father, follows prints through the bush to a cluster of houses where the van sits under a tarpaulin. He intimidates the thief into towing the van back with his donkeys, along with four pumpkins as compensation. Mma Ramotswe weeps over the van, mourning it as a friend.

Mma Makutsi solves a case the agency had taken on for Zambian lawyers seeking a financier who absconded with company funds: She telephones a minister of religion who inadvertently reveals the man fled to Johannesburg. Mma Ramotswe rewards her with a generous bonus. While shopping, Mma Makutsi discovers that Phuti Radiphuti manages the Double Comfort Furniture Store, which his father owns. The elder Mr Radiphuti, who knew Obed Ramotswe, thanks Mma Makutsi privately for being kind to his shy son.

When Note returns for his money, Mma Ramotswe tells him she was never his wife because he was already married, making him the bigamist. Behind her, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni and Mr Polopetsi signal their presence. She tells Note she once loved him, does not hate him, and offers a small envelope of money as a gift, speaking the Setswana words for "Go in peace." Note takes the envelope, thanks her, and leaves.

Mma Makutsi then reveals how she engineered Charlie's return. She telephoned the shebeen owner's husband, told him about Charlie, and negotiated that he would only warn Charlie off. She then frightened Charlie with a story about the husband's dangerous reputation. Charlie begged to return. Upon coming back, Charlie reveals he left the pumpkin at Mma Ramotswe's house, solving that small mystery, though the intruder's identity remains unknown. Mr Polopetsi's position is confirmed as permanent in both the garage and the agency.

The novel closes when the elder Mr Radiphuti arrives to tell Mma Ramotswe his son wishes to marry Mma Makutsi but is too shy to propose. Mma Ramotswe carries the message inside. Mma Makutsi, astonished, removes her large round glasses and polishes them with her threadbare handkerchief. She says yes. Mma Makutsi stands at the office window looking out at the evening light on the distant hills, thinking of her past, her late brother Richard, and the love she has always wanted to give and now has someone to give it to.