THE LOST ART OF GRATITUDE

Botswana’s only female detective, Precious Ramotswe—whose investigation of whether the father who’s incontinently turned up on the doorstep of Happy Bapetsi, who’s been getting along fine without him, is really her father edges her toward considerably darker waters—isn’t just ready to confront everything from theft to kidnapping to murder: she’s ready for prime time. The first American publication of this 1999 debut has been preceded by two special Booker citations and two sequels, Tears of the Giraffe (2000) and Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001), both forthcoming in the series.