If you’re interested in reading and discussing a charming detective novel with a quality of ordinariness you can pick up a copy of “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” and show up at 7 p.m. on July 31 to join in the conversation.

This is the first of a series starring Precious Ramotswe, who sets up a detective agency in Gaborone, Africa in order to “help people with the problems in their lives”. The  mysteries she solves range from tracking down a missing husband to investigating whether or not a young girl has a boyfriend but what really lands her in danger is the case of a missing eleven-year-old boy who may have been snatched by witch doctors.  McCall Smith uses this to bring us face-to-face with one of Africa’s more frightening traditions: the use of human bones in the making of medicine.

Alexander McCall Smith is not your ordinary author but instead is an African-born expert on medical law and bioethics with a PhD in law from the University of Edinburgh.   He helped co-found and teach law at the University of Botswana.  While there, he co-wrote what remains the only book on the country’s legal system, “The Criminal Law of Botswana”.  As an amateur bassoonist he is co-founder of The Really Terrible Orchestra.