Alexander McCall Smith, The Great Cake Mystery

Alexander McCall Smith has now published three children's books featuring Precious Ramotswe, the protagonist of his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, as a school-age girl. The books are aimed at kids in grades 2-5, though I read this first book in the series and quite liked it. The Great Cake Mystery is true to the adult series: the story is sweet, the characters charming, and Precious—united here with her dear father Obed, who has died by the time the adult books start—is exactly as she should be. The book itself is also beautiful: the two-tone, woodcut-looking illustrations that appear throughout it are delightful and perfectly appropriate for the story.