Customer Reviews

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I was in a mood to read some light, funny, uplifting books and I decided to read this book. Let me tell you, this is one of the AMAZING books that I've read so far. Very beautifully written, hilarious and little tragic at times. And very nice description of Africa and the general life there. I recommend this book as a MUST READ to everyone !!

Other books by the author are equally good. The 44 Scotland Street series, and Isabel Dalhousie series. I am a fan of Alexander McCall Smith now.

I bought this book because of a review I read in a magazine...can't remember which one.

Now, I have all the books in Alexander McCall's Smith's series about Precious Ramotswe, proud owner of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana.

Unlike some reviews here, I can find no fault with the books. I agree they are not complex who-done-it thrillers, but Precious Ramotswe does not lead a thrilling life. She lives at a slower pace, more in tune with nature and her intuition than those of us in western civilization. The mysteries she solves are not that difficult, but she takes great pride in her professionalism and treats each client with great care and compassion.

I particularly like the way I feel when I read about the daily happenings in Mma Ramotswe's life. I like reading about her house on Zebra Drive; her bright secretary (who scored 97% at the Botswana Secretarial College); her companion Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni; her life growing up as the beloved daughter of a devoted father who left his life's work to her so she could open her own business; her disastrous marriage; and the variety of people who seek out her professional assistance.

Some reviewers have compared Mma Ramotswe to Miss Marple. I guess the comparison fits, but it seems to me that Mma Ramotswe would prefer to belong in a category by herself....the first female private investigator in Botswana.

If you like the Jan Karon series about Father Tim and his beloved village of Mitford, then you might want to give The No 1. Ladies' Detective Series a try.

Enjoy!

Written by a man, The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency has enough of a feminist persepctive for me to feel I was reading something actually written for me, rather than feeling as I usually do when reading, that I am trying to take pleasure in literature created for an audience of which I am not a part. McCall Smith' s feminism is simple but fundamental : men should not beat their wives, the better fathers are those who encourage their daughters to be independent and realise their dreams, women have a right to happiness.

These beliefs are just part of the basic philosophy of the central character, Mma Precious Ramotswe, the first lady detective in Botswana, who imparts her basic moral philosophy at the same time - murder is worse than lying, relationships are more important than money, intuition is a kind of knowledge. While all of this philosophy may seem clichéd, as perhaps it is, it appears naturally in the book as part of the character and helps us to understand her approach to solving the cases brought to her.

Woven throughout all of this is a picture of Botswana, considered by Ramotswe, and presumably McCall Smith, as the best and most successful country in Africa. Independent from the British since 1966, there is enormous pride in her accomplishments, and only the ongoinging black magic practices of some of the country's witchdoctors cast a shadow on the shining accomplishments of Botswana's diamond-fueled progress.

Most powerfully of all, it is the love of the land that sings throughout the book. Botswana - stretching from the Kalahari desert to the Limpopo river, a country where « there is a place for me, and for everybody, to sit down on this earth and touch it and call it their own ». A country with its distinct riches - « that was what her country was so rich in - emptiness...those empty spaces, those wide grasslands that broke and broke the heart ». With its thorn trees that know how to survive in the searing heat and the birds and snakes of Mother Africa. Where nature is a family member and where the rising of the sun and its setting at the end of day are events to be savoured in the daily rhythm of life.

I read this book in a relaxed afternoon, and felt I had passed my time with a pleasant companion, who had painted pictures for me of a place I might otherwise never visit.

A very nice light read. The story is set in Botswana so you learn a lot about that country and the manners and customs of the people.

I can't believe it's taken me till now to read this book, what with the buzz around its first publication & subsequent sequels. Anyway, I've just read No 1 Ladies and Tears of the Giraffe and all I can say is that it's taken me way too long to discover Precious and her cohorts.

Amusing reading with enough seriousness to keep one engaged. Lucky me - I have the rest of the series to discover - I hope they are up to the quality of the first two, which are EXCELLENT!

Share these with your teens, too. Good stuff.

Highly intelligent and pleasantly plump, Precious lived in Gaborone, the capital city of the African nation of Botswana. Her father had left her a nice inheritance. But what would she do with it? Open a detective agency of course. She has no experience or potential clients, but she has "a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter." And don't forget the secretary. Precious, or Mma Ramotswe as she is referred to, uses her hunches and ends up helping people, sometimes with hilarious results. She does, however, also face dangerous situations with boldness. Life handed Precious Ramotswe a few curve balls. She refuses to feel sorry for herself and does what she wants to do with her life, no matter what her culture dictates. The reader will cheer Precious on and find inspiration from this character's no-nonsense methods.

Also recommended: "Katzenjammer" by Jackson McCrae.

As much a loving and beautiful song to Africa as it is a mystery, THE NO.1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY will have to be the best thing you read this summer. Written in a simple style that evokes African fable, the book is episodic in construction, offering several different tales from Mma Ramotswe's casebookPrecious Ramotswe is a single, forty-something woman in Botswana who opens a detective agency with her inheritance. In the beginning of the book we learn about her father's life as a miner and we are introduced to the country. We also learn about Precious' upbringing, her head for figures and her failed marriage. Precious struggles with establishing a new business, but she gets cases. They are not all the typical detective story mysteries about malicious crimes. Most are more concerned with the human heart and relationships between people. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD

After the death of her father Precious Ramotswe uses the inheritance to buy herself a house and an office from which she starts the first detective agency in Botswana. Business starts slowly, but she gets a number of clients with problems ranging from missing husbands to fraudulent employees and she starts to build up a reputation leading to new clients. The book describes some of the cases that Mma Ramotswe solves, but the real star of the book is Africa: there are long, loving descriptions of the nature, the people, the culture and the life in Africa and anybody who has been to Africa (and subsequently loves the continent despite all its problems) can use this book to refresh their memories and long back to those real African nights. Don't read this as a detective but as a book about Africa.

I wanted to read this book because of the positive reviews it had received. The book was hard for me to get into. I wanted the mystery to present itself sooner than it did. Too much time was spent on the main character's history, which I suppose was to set up the series. When she finally got a case, it was resolved very quickly. I realized that this book would describe several simple, quick cases she had worked on rather than having a main mystery that would serve as a plot. It was interesting to have Africa as a backdrop, but that is not enough to make me want to read other books in this series, the first book of which disappointed me.

After the death of her father, Precious Ramotswe uses the inheritance to buy herself a house and an office from which she starts the first detective agency in Botswana. Business starts slowly, but she gets a number of clients with problems ranging from missing husbands to fraudulent employees and she starts to build up a reputation leading to new clients. The book describes some of the cases that Mma Ramotswe solves, but the real star of the book is Africa: there are long, loving descriptions of the nature, the people, the culture and the life in Africa and anybody who has been to Africa (and subsequently loves the continent despite all its problems) can use this book to refresh their memories and long back to those real African nights. Don't read this as a detective but as a book about Africa.