Anika Noni Rose, girl detective

Anika Noni Rose, probably best known as Lorrell in Dreamgirls, has signed on to costar with Jill Scott in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. Jill Scott will play Precious Ramotswe, the owner of an all-female detective agency in Botswana. Rose will play Grace Matsuki, Precious' assistant. Uh, Precious and Grace? Hmm. Those aren't exactly kick-ass detective names. If you've read the book, fill me in — is this going to be any good?

The Hollywood Reporter says it's likely that a TV series will follow the movie. I can't help but get excited about the prospect of Rose and Scott playing detectives on TV. Sounds a lot better than the Nancy Drew movie, unless we're talking about bad machine's version.

Meanwhile, from the How Did I Miss That? department, it seems Rose is also in The Starter Wife, that USA "event" starring Debra Messing and Judy Davis. And here I thought I had no interest in that miniseries. Never mind; I still have no interest.

Rose's other current projects are One Part Sugar, costarring Danny DeVito (so I guess it was one part sugar, one part embarrassing drunken appearance on a talk show) and The Princess and The Frog, the animated musical that features the first black princess in Disney history.