This is the story of Precious and Grace, known to one another and their friends as Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi, co-directors of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

For years the two women have been helping people with the problems in their lives, but their partnership is tested by a curious case: a client who wants to rediscover the life she lost when she left Botswana thirty years ago.

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi soon find that the quest for the truth takes them in very different directions. They are each convinced that they are on the right track - but what if they are both wrong? Meanwhile Mma Ramotswe must extract Mr Polopetsi - part-time assistant detective - from a potential disaster with wide-reaching consequences, deal with a stray dog that Fanwell - the gentle mechanic - has brought into their lives, and cope with the agency's arch-enemy, Violet Sephotho.

Steeped in the heat of summer in Botswana, and packed with intrigue, this heartfelt tale of friendship under pressure reveals how coming to terms with the past may be the only way to face the future.

By Alexander McCall Smith

Published by Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349142036