The Great Cake Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith

Summary: Have you ever said to yourself, wouldn’t it be nice to be a detective? This is the story of an African girl who says just that. Her name is Precious. When a piece of cake goes missing from her classroom, Precious sets out to find the thief. (image and summary from goodreads.com)

My Review: I am a big fan of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (plus the very short-lived TV show), and every book I read is like a breath of fresh air.  Precious Ramotswe is one of my favorite literary characters of all time, and for good reason.  She is clever, caring, kind, funny, straightforward, and fights for both justice and mercy. She also sits on violent people until they calm down and she can talk sense to them.  See, awesome lady.

So this book was fun because we got to have a little foray into Precious' life as a child, when she first discovered she both wanted to be a detective, and would be good at it.  The story itself is simple and straightforward, but it has all the aspects we get in Smith's series, a mystery, human nature, suspects, Precious' inherent kindness and goodwill, and finally solving the puzzle.  It's perfect for younger fans of the series, and enjoyable for us older fans too.

I like how Smith speaks to the reader at certain aspects of the story, as if he is having a conversation with them, asking if they've ever thought of being a detective, if they ask a lot of questions and notice things others don't.  It draws the young reader into the world and lets them try to solve the mystery as well.  The illustrations throughout are also a fun touch, they do a fine job of illuminating the tale.

 

Any fan of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency should definitely put this on their list, it's a quick read, it's sweet, and it's pure Precious Ramotswe.

My Rating: Four Stars

 

For the sensitive reader: nothing of note