A few years ago, a friend, knowing I was about to embark on a cross-country plane trip right after having dental surgery, suggested a distraction: a series of books set in Botswana, featuring an African female detective, written by a white Scotsman. The concept was not promising. As a student of history, both formally (B.S., History and Political Science) and informally (reading history books like others read mystery novels), I have often winced at the infelicitous interpretations of white Europeans about the cultures they encountered in their travels.  Still, my friend has impeccable literary taste, so I hied to the bookstore and grabbed the first three volumes of the series.

And fell head-over-heels, irrevocably, with Alexander McCall Smith, Precious Ramotswe, and Botswana.