Rating: 
Summary: CHARMING
Review: This is a quiet, charming look at life in a small village in Botswana through the eyes of its lovely, chubby lady detective. How refreshing she is! How manipulative! How utterly wonderful! You will adore her. Although the idea of setting mysteries in far away locales has been done and done again, this one rises above the rest. And teaches us something in the process.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you Smile
Review: I read the other reviews and for some reason people think they have to re-write the entire plot; that's not a review. One reviewer thought the author of this book was a woman. Hello!!! Now, I will review the book: it was excellent...it made me smile and feel happy. I wanted to be a better person after having read it because there are many morality messages. The characters were so well developed, I felt I knew these people like my own family. The author has great insight into women's psyche
Rating:
Summary: Justice-Mma Ramotswe Style
Review: I probably wouldn't have read this except that my mother threw this one my way, plus most of my family's read at least this one of the series by Alexander McCall Smith. Mma Ramotswe's detective agency, the only one in the entire country of Botswana in southern Africa, is, (by American standards), short-staffed and sparsely equipped; she's the only detective, her only equipment a phone, her white van, and a typewriter. She has one employee. She purchased her one room office building with inheritance money she received from her father who had been a small-scale cattle rancher. My favorite case which she solves is a scam, commonplace in Botswana, where an elderly man shacks up with a young female pretending to be her long lost father and whose sole objective is to drain her of her time, energy, and finances so long as he abides there. How she obtains her first confession was my first lol, laughing out loud, incident while reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written but thin plot
Review: I agree with an earlier reviewer that the Plot line of this book seemed a little thin, kind of like a bunch of mixed up stories. the writting is excellent in terms of description and characters. I must admit this is my first book by this author and i think I will check out some of her other books. I also recomend : "A Tourist in the Yucatan."
Rating:
Summary: Watch Ms. Christie
Review: I found this book enchanting. Mma Ramotswe is both likable and hilarious as the lead character running her own detective agency in Botswana. She encounters many interesting sorts and solves their mysteries along the way. Alexander McCall writes with an easy style that encourages his readers to read a little longer. His chapters could easily be a short story within themselves. I was so wrapped up in his book that I read it in two days and am currently on to the next in his series about Mma Ramotswe. I see a movie in the future!!
Rating:
Summary: Heart warming story
Review: This series by Mr. Smith is one of the best I have read in years. I bought the first one, Number One Ladies Detective Agency and by the 2nd tape I had ordered the other three. I am thrilled that there is a new one, The Full Cupboard of Life and I have that on order right now. The story takes you to Africa, you can feel the hot winds and dust. It is a tale of morality and simple comman sense. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read-Looking Forward to Reading More!
Review: I have really enjoyed this book very much and am looking forward to reading the author's other ones as well. Mma Ramotske, a very intelligent African woman always had her ambitions of starting a detective agency, rare for a woman in Africa. So with a little money left by her deceased father, she opened up the agency in a small storefront. Business begins slowly, but as she becomes more well-known, she has some interesting cases to solve. One of her main cases is about a boy who had vanished from his home for no reason; and Mma Ramotske works on solving the case piece by piece. She also uncovers a con-man in the story, as well as the discovery of a missing husband. I highly recommend the book-it's very difficult to lay it down.
Rating:
Summary: Back to storytelling
Review: I read this book in 2 days, maybe a day and half! :)
I barely know how to describe this book. You settle in, open to the first page, and you just feel warmth surround you. It is the first book I've read in a very long while where I feel the author is a storyteller. I feel as though he has tucked me into bed and is telling me this wonderful story, and I can see the landscapes he describes, and the sweat that drips off of Mma Ramotswe's forehead. It is beautifully written, funny, insightful and just a pleasure to read. I can't wait to start the next one! And the next one!...
Rating:
Summary: light, enjoyable reading. Low on plotline.
Review: Light-hearted reading. Very cute, very different cadence to the narrative. Enjoyed it. Not a strong plot, especially if you like page turners. This book meanders like a collection of short stories. America-bashing while glorifying Botswana. I guess readers have a love affair with Africa and I think that's why this book gained great reviews.
There was a lot of male-bashing, but some good guys too, though expressed more subtly. The characters are entertaining, but again the plotlinein this book is dull. The novel is just barely worth reading for the pleasant local color, but as far as mystery fiction goes, I would rather reread Ellis Peters, Anne Perry, Elizabeth Peters, or Cynthia Peale.
The back cover led me to expect "the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is that of a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witch doctors." What?! Where?! The missing boy case was a teensy part of the book, and certainly did not tug at my heart strings at all. There was barely anything made of it at the end. I would have liked to see at least two of the stories to be tied together, or for some clue from another case to help solve the case of the boy's disappearance. Nothing like that is part of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Delightful characters in African Bush county setting
Review: Botswana is a land-locked country just north of South Africa. This delightful novel is set primarily in Botswana's capital city of Gaborone. This story follows the life of Mma. Precious Ramotswe as she sets up shop as the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. We first meet Precious as a dutiful daughter, taking care of her aging father. When her father passes away, Precious unexpectedly receives a large sum of money from him, given with the intention of allowing Precious to buy her own business. After some searching, Precious decides to start her own business, and the No. 1 Detective Agency is born. This story is more a series of small cases solved by Mma Ramotswe, rather than one coherent mystery. Potential readers who might be expecting a continuous story should e aware of this. The cases Precious solves are interesting and gives us insight to life in Botswana.
| 
