The sort of problems that trouble Mma Precious Ramotswe and her No1 Ladies' Detective Agency are not bloody corpses, rapes or technical police procedurals. They are those that arise from the gentle pace of life in her Botswana village, where she and her increasingly uppity assistant solve problems of marital discord and, as is the case here, the shady dealings of a member of the board of an orphanage.

Fans of the series will find much to enjoy, as Ramotswe has a prophetic dream which brings to her village the man who wrote the book she prizes above everything. But, of course, there are lessons to be learned. McCall Smith writes with a placid quaintness, his narration full of "one might says", "undoubtedlys" and second person addresses to the reader that subtly decry practices in Britain today  the debt crisis and the lack of respect for teachers, for instance. Morality and honour are the order of the day, and who can argue with that? It is all but impossible to criticise this novel; that would be like kicking a slightly senile labrador that always retrieves a ball when you throw it, whether you like it or not.