So after having had it on my shelf for a couple of years, I finally read Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It's amusing, quite well-written, has an interesting main character, and probably seems exotic to people who haven't read a lot about sub-Saharan Africa, but I was somewhat at a loss to understand the massive literary fuss that has been made over it and the ensuing series. Of course, writers usually can't control whether their books are annoyingly hyped, ignored,