Charming Quirks

I wandered into the library today where I checked out Alexander McCall Smith's newest novel, The Charming Quirks of Others.  He originally became famous for his Number One Ladies Detective Agency series. The books pretend to belong to the mystery genre, but are really light fiction. They are full of charming quirky characters, especially the irresistible heroine Precious Ramotswe, the larger-than-life lady detective who solves the mysteries of the human heart. Like the rest of the reading public, I fell in love with her. When I discovered that a television series had been made from the books, I ordered it from Netflix. I was thrilled to find that the producers had made an excellent job of the adaptation, but sad to learn that the program came to a premature end with the the pregnancy of its star, Jill Scott and the death of its executive producer, Anthony Minghella.  Never mind, we fans have more than enough books to compensate for the loss of the series. McCall Smith is amazingly prolific. He's written 12 Detective Agency books, 3 2-1/2 Pillars of Wisdom books, 7 Sunday Philosophy Club books, 6 44 Scotland Street books, 2 Corduroy Mansions, 3 collections of short stores, 20 children's books, various treatises on medical law and bio-ethics, and 1 other novel.  Plus a partridge in a pear tree. More next time about Alexander McCall Smith, but right now I'm too exhausted by the inventory to go on.