The troubles and hardships of life for many in Africa are frequently documented and seldom difficult to comprehend. It is good, therefore, to be shown one part of that huge continent in a gentler, happier light. Alexander McCall Smith's affection for Botswana and its people is palpable. In Mma Ramotswe and those whose lives are touched by the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the author creates characters who are astutely and persuasively observed.

In Blue Shoes and Happiness, as in its predecessors, there are crimes and criminals but no real sense of evil. The miscreants are dealt with according to their desserts but generally with compassion. When the reader is invited to smile at a slow-paced way of life inhabited by unsophisticated characters there is never a hint of condescension. The plotting is unobtrusively deft, the writing fluent.

Undemanding to read but probably not as easy to write as may superficially appear.