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Summary: "She was a good detective, and a good woman" (2)
Review: When Mma Romotwe's father dies leaving her his cattle to sell in order to open a business, she decides to go against recommendations of a butchery or some other regular business to open the first detective agency in her country. She feels it is her "duty to help [people] solve the mysteries in their lives" (2). A series of moral tales with a focus on honesty and doing the right thing range from the case where a doctor does difficult procedures one day and is completely incompetent the next, to wives who want to know if their husbands are cheating, to a woman who is unsure if the man who claims he is her father is really just using her. The best tale gives hope of the country progressing to allow women to use their intellectual potential and independence freely when an overprotective father hires Mma Romostwe to find out if his daughter has a boyfriend, but she relates and befriends the little girl, Nandira, who displays traits of Mma Romostwe herself. Woven throughout these smaller cases is a more sinister and bigger case involving the taboo witchcraft circles in Africa where young boys' bones are used for certain medicines. Mma Romotswe's intellect, which she learned early from hard work and simple things like counting trees, always prevails and her intuition ("the eyes allowed you to see right into a person, to penetrate their very essence" (5) ) proves correct. A beautiful and uplifting read, this unconventional detective novel is much more than solving a few mysteries. Also, while tackling everyone else's mysteries, Mma Romotswe still finds time to learn about, fight, and sometimes love both snakes and men as her private history of independence and love unfolds. At the end of the day, Mma Romotswe focuses on the little things: "you could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin" (81).
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Summary: Double Duty
Review: Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a passionate tale of a love affair with Africa alongside a poignant tale of a struggle for gender equality. Precious Ramotswe, a private detective, sets up her first business venture in the African country of Botswana with her inheritance from her father's death. Coupled with Precious' desire to honor her father's cherished memory, this rotund detective is driven to make a solid place for herself in the male-dominated professional world. Social commentary abounds throughout the text through small details. For instance, the success that Precious meets in her detective endeavors stems not from her trusty "Detective Guide" written by a male but from following her own female intuition. Also, the author's passion and respect for an independently governed Africa shine through as peaceful Botswana is continually juxtaposed with the apartheid-ridden South Africa. Readers will enjoy the adventures and risks that Precious Ramotswe encounters through this fun, unique, and socially challenging first novel of the series.
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Summary: The Lighter Side of Detection
Review: Political upheaval, false appearances, and a variety of complicated parental and male/female relationships are expertly crafted into the plot of Alexander McCall Smith?s, The No. 1 Ladies Detective. Alexander McCall Smith places Precious Ramotswe in an environment that responds suspiciously towards women who reject the culturally accepted maternal role. Precious is presented as a successful detective not because of her educational background but instead because of her intuition, common sense, and easy was of interacting with people. Precious Ramotswe handles clients and criminals effectively using a light and sometimes comical manner. Through her work, she enables herself and other women to question their role as women in this society and within the traditional family structure. Precious helps support several of her clients as they stand up to tyrannical male figures. Ramotswe appears most entertaining when interacting with more traditional male characters. Her understanding of the traditional male view of her life and their assumptions of her intelligence allow her to create situations in which the male characters demonstrate their own stupidity. Precious Ramotswe?s life and role in the novel allow her to witness and explore a variety of relationships between male and female characters. Ramotswe seems most admirable for her personal strength and her knowledge of what she wants from her own relationships. These characteristics identify her as a powerful figure who is capable of setting her own guidelines concerning her role in this community and in her intimate relationships.
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Summary: twist on detective fiction
Review: Set in rural Botswana, Alexander McCall Smith's novel adds a twist to the conventional detective mystery. The striking feature in Smith's story is not a captivating crime with clues that keep the reader guessing. Rather, the life of detective heroine Mma. Ramotswe governs the novel's focus. Readers will more often find themselves chuckling at Mma. Ramostwe's dry humor than piecing together a compelling mystery. Described as a heavy-set, middle-aged woman, Mma. Ramotswe relates to characters and readers at a basic, human level. For instance, after a frustrating day at work, the novel tells how she returns to the comfort of her home and routine pumpkin dinner, something that "brought you down to earth ... [and] gave you reason for going on" (81). Furthermore, Mma. Ramostwe often serves as a counselor to her clients. In several instances Smith likens her position to a priest or doctor and calls her a "fixer of lives." Mma. Ramostwe discovers techniques in professional detective manuals prove less effective than her intuition and listening skills. Smith does an excellent job developing Mma. Ramotswe's character outside of her detective work sphere. The first several chapters are devoted to telling about Mma. Ramotswe's father and her family. To a reader eager to dive into hunting clues, this background detail can seem laborious and tedious; however, learning about her family history is essential in seeing Mma. Ramotswe as more than a one-dimensional Sherlock Holmes detective. Knowing about parts of Mma. Ramostwe's personal life, such as her deceased father and failed marriage, enables readers to understand the motives behind Mma. Ramostwe's detective agency and her attitude toward gender and domestic issues. Mma. Ramostwe never attempts to unearth a mass murderer or serial killer; instead, she works mainly on domestic cases involving cheating husbands and disobedient daughters. Readers may be frustrated that no common thread seems to tie Mma. Ramostwe's seemingly unrelated cases together. However, the lackluster and somewhat random nature of her cases enhances Mma. Ramostwe's character and parallels a realistic detective agency, in which investigators aren't constantly putting their life on the line to unearth a sensational crime. Mma. Ramostwe struggles with issues common to many independent agencies, such as making ends meet and cooperating with her secretary and various clients. Placing Mma. Ramostwe as the central feature of his novel allows Smith to reveal a humanistic side to detection that sensational murder mysteries and traditional Sherlock Holmes novels lack.
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Summary: The No. 1 BOOK
Review: A far cry from the fast paced, violent nature of the Walter Mosely mysteries, Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency opens on the doorstep of a calm, warm afternoon in Botswana, Africa, with Precious Ramotswe sipping tea on the porch of the detective agency that she opened with the money from the inheritance bequeathed to her by her beloved father. She lives a difficult life, facing the loss of her mother at an early age, betrayal by her husband, the death of her child, and the death of her father. Initially the townspeople are skeptical of her agency because of her gender, but she repeatedly proves that her wisdom and her instincts are invaluable to the successful resolution of cases dealing with various types of charlatans, disappearances, and crimes. Through the pure, limpid quality of straightforward storytelling, we see that she becomes a community confidante, a "fixer of lives" conducting herself with dignity and grace, yet doing what she must do to put those lives back together when they fall to pieces. On a continent faced with impending changes due to exposure to the modernity of the western world, Mma Ramotswe represents a passionate tribute to the beauty of the old Africa, recording the "unrecorded voices" of those who still follow the old traditions and reminding us that, when thought gets you nowhere, you still have to eat your pumpkin.
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Summary: A Fixer of Lives
Review: First published in Edinburgh, Scotland, this initial work in Alexander McCall Smith's detective series is guaranteed to capture the attention and attachment of an international audience. With the animated and ardent Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's very own original ladies' detective at the helm, Smith takes his reader on an unforgettable expedition through the African outback and into the hearts and lives of its citizens. A "fixer of lives," Mma Ramotswe is a specialist in the ways of men, a rabid hunter of all things fishy and uncertain, and a personal confidant for the people in Gaborone, the largest city in Botswana and site of the only detective agency for ladies in the country. In his entrancing detective novel, Smith reveals the interesting and unexpected ways that traditional methods of detection must be altered and adapted to fit the singular and distinctive culture that is Africa. To solve the crimes and situations she confronts, Mma Ramotswe must rely heavily on her remarkably keen sense of humanity, intuition, and sharp intellect. In doing so, the reader also learns a good deal about the physical, political, and social landscape of this small African country and the larger continent.
In contrast to the hard-boiled detective of most mysteries who hardly take time for coffee, Mma Ramostwe knows and acknowledges the importance of even the simplest life-sustaining rituals. "She stopped. It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin." (81) Like Mma Ramostwe, the people of Botswana are concerned with the business of life, and in her practical, perceptive way, Mma aids her fellow countrymen and women in this essential pursuit of happiness. In sharing Mma Ramostwe's stories, Smith delights the reader with a rare glimpse of humanity in all its radiance and unembellished truth.
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Summary: A Fixer of Lives
Review: Rare among works of detective fiction are stories suffused with joy rather than fear and suspense, but Alexander McCall Smith's _The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency_ celebrates the role of detective rather than elaborating on its dangers. This is not to say that the novel does not deal with serious matters: Precious Ramotswe, the No. 1 Lady Detective of Botswana, faces insurance fraud, medical malpractice, abduction, and even the potential killing of children for magical potions, but she performs her feats of detection primarily out of love for the people of Botswana. She is a "fixer of lives," an exceptional figure in a genre of characters concerned with bringing criminals to justice out of a desire for vengeance. Precious Ramotswe's position as a pioneering female detective contributes to the novel's unique tone. Many of her cases revolve around the domestic - missing husbands, impersonators of family members, lost children - but Precious Ramotswe works within the traditionally female realm to subvert and surpass it. She beats the often pompous and self-satisfied men in the novel at their own game, accomplishing her goals with wit and sensitivity and emerging from early life struggles with good-natured wisdom. This touch of the personal infuses Smith's novel with a uniquely human sympathy, appropriate for the story of Precious Ramotswe's maturation, and for Botswana, historically exempted from the severest political turmoil of its fellow African nations. Smith's light, spare style adds to the charm of _The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency_; the narration glides from anecdote to anecdote with the grace of beads sliding down a string. If the novel suffers from anything, it would be that the individual detection stories seem too loosely strung together and that the secondary characters sometimes lack development. But Smith is less concerned with the process of uncovering a single mystery than with the growth of the central detective: each story uncovers another of Precious Ramotswe's talents. A novel of hope and healing, _The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency_ reinvents detective fiction for a distinctively African, distinctively female world, weaving a tale of cleverness and warmth as it rejoices in the vibrancy of African life.
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Summary: Precious Mystery
Review: Alexander McCall Smith deserves praise for not only writing a great mystery, but for writing several. And I don't just mean multiple books. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a top-notch series of mysteries with clever, sometimes hilarious resolutions. Whether it's read all at once or in pieces, it plays perfectly. Almost every chapter stands on its own as a great mystery with an intriguing set-up and a satisfying wrap-up. The main character, Precious Ramotswe, runs the titular organization with only the help of a secretary. It's no mean feat for her agency to be number one, since it is the only ladies' detective agency in Africa. Competition is slim but when she opens up shop, she discovers that demand is high. People all over the city are in need of feminine detective work. No one expects a female private investigator, though a little girl who she is trailing for her father spots her while being followed. Precious is a remarkably appealing character. We are given her background history in rich detail and it explains quite well why she feels and thinks the way she does. She's had it rough and wants nothing more than everyone else to have it much easier. She is trying to change the world for the better. And best of all, she has a tremendous wit. Her methods for solving problems and dealing with difficulties utilize both ingenuity and comical deception. She pretends to be a witness to an accident, a nurse, a seductress, and a policewoman on her separate investigations. She gets to shoot an alligator between the eyes as well as demand a blood transfusion to prove the identity of a parent. Within the context of the story, these unexpected twists are jarring and highly memorable. The persistence of one of her friends, Mr. Matekoni, to get her to marry him is hilarious and makes for a funny, unexpected ending. It shows her iron will throughout the book and lets the reader into her head about her true feelings and why she feels compelled to lock some of her emotions away. Precious is deeply textured and her actions are never predictable. One funny, involving mystery after another plus characters with genuine heart make this a real winner. Smith's Agency is number one, all right.
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Summary: great book!!!
Review: Mma Ramotswe, an ordinary citizen with absolutely no proper investigative training, uses her inheritance to set up the first ladies' detective agency. While the idea that a woman could not possibly be a detective arises a number of times, neither the book nor its characters directly question Mma Ramotswe's qualifications as a detective. Although she purchases a detective guide-book, its rules and advice cannot be applied to her cases verbatim. Instead, she relies on her innate skills as an African woman that more easily aid in the unraveling of the community mysteries. Early on, Mma Ramotse points out to an attorney that women are more observant than men. Upon sensing his objections, she readily informs him that he has forgotten to zip his fly. Aside from its humor, the beauty of this book is McCall Smith's ability to blend splendid descriptions of Africa's vast landscape with Mma Ramotswe's personal narrative and to show how that product remains very much alive in her heart and in her behavior. In a culture where female dependence is embedded in history, Mma acts with extraordinary strength and courage. It is her painful experience with her own run-away husband and her unique relationship with her father that shed light on her investigations and ultimately enable her to reconcile the fragments of her own life. In this way, her endeavors give voice to many similar unrecorded stories that have been historically gagged.
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Summary: No. 1 Enjoyable Read
Review: Mma. Ramotswe is one of the most charming detectives in fiction I have ever met. The characters are well defined and the situations are believable, the Botswana backgrounds take you there. I certainly look forward to reading more from the author.
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