Mma Ramotswe's tiny white van has developed a disturbing noise. But, having made numerous repairs to the van over the years, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, her estimable husband and mechanic nonpareil, sells it without telling her and presents her with a new, characterless vehicle. So Mma Ramotswe sets out to recover the van... In the meantime, the thoroughly unpleasant, yet glamorous, Violet Sephotho (who earned 50 percent, at most!, in the final examinations of the Botswana Secretarial College) gets herself a job at the Double Comfort Furniture Store. Why? The reason is obvious: to make a play for Mma Makutsi's fiancé, Mr Phuti Radiphuti. And a proprietor of a local football team has enlisted the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to help explain their dreadful losing streak: surely someone is fixing the games, it can't just be a case of unskilled players...This is a job for Charlie, ever-apprentice at the Speedy Motors, to sniff out the competence of the players, as an assistant detective...
