Rating: 
Summary: Simply wonderful stories and evocative descriptions
Review: It took a few weeks for me really to get into this book. For me, it started slowly, but then I began to love the descriptions of Africa as much as the gentle mysteries that move this book along. The best proof of the book's general appeal is that I have given away at least a half dozen copies and have received warm thanks from everyone. It is a marvelous book and its episodic aspect makes it well suited to reading aloud.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed it greatly
Review: Congratulations to Ms Smith. A fun read. Reminded me of my own Beauford Sloan Mystery series. Raymond Austin
Television director of The Saint, The Avengers, Hawaii Five-O, Magnum, P.I., Hart to Hart, Jag, etc.
And author of "The Eagle Heist" and "Dead Again"
Rating:
Summary: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Review: I left Africa at the age of 6, never to return. Until I read this book, my memories were few and far between. What a special thrill then, for the first time in fifty years, to taste fresh sugar cane in my mouth, thanks to Alexander McCall Smith's loving evocation. Sights, long forgotten, the smell of Africa came flooding back, as I raced through the pages of this book. In terms of detective fiction, I am no virgin. Wilkie Collins, Conan Doyle, Christie, Chandler, Hammett, Rankin, Paretsky, Deaver, Cruz Smith et al crowd bulging bookshelves all around the house. How refreshing it was to discover a new and subtle voice. These pages are not littered with corpses, gratuitous violence, car chases or soft pornography. In a lecture last week, I heard Alan Plater say, that in all his years, he had never seen a fight, let alone a crime. Why should he then litter his screen plays with events of which he, and I suspect most of the rest us, had no experience? If you want to experience a vicarious thrill, don't look for it here. There is more than enough mystery in the normal run of life. Precious Ramotswe can get the answers to the questions she needs to ask without the use of a gun or a blackjack. Heroes and heroines don't have to be misfits on the edge. They don't have to be perfect. They can have very simple dreams, yet their stories can still be riveting. It says something about this book that, without all the usual suspects, I still could not put it down until I had finished and that I raced out to buy 'Tears of the Giraffe' as soon as I had.
Rating: 
Summary: quirky
Review: Not your typical mystery. Not worth all the hype
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting!
Review: Alexander McCall Smith's novel The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, set in Botswana is a thrill to read. The characters capture your heart, especially the lady detective, Precious Ramotswe. The history of her life growing up in Botswana, and that of her father are as engaging as the mysteries she solves. A brave and cunning woman, Mma Ramotswe and her adventures make for a great read. This book has found a place on my 'favorites' shelf. I highly recommend this delightful book!
Rating:
Summary: Different, gently funny, refreshing
Review: For a book so utterly unassuming and undemanding, this first volume in the adventures of Botswana's only lady detective, Precious Ramotswe, accomplishes an impressive amount. It gives us, first of all, a fictional character who breathes. Mma Ramotswe has none of the infallible intelligence, the glamor or colorful pugnacity of stock detective fiction. She is an ordinary woman nearing middle age - but it would be more accurate to praise her as "perfectly ordinary." Her considerable girth is emblematic of her general solidity: ambling through one small case after another, rarely sure of the next step, succeeding not because of brilliance but by dint of cheerful confidence, good humor and common sense. It gives us, second, a glimpse into the day to day life of a modern African town. It is perhaps a little exotic to us, but it is perfectly natural to Mma Ramotswe, and her familiarity with and affection for the social order, the dry expanses of the Kalahari, the flow of favors expended and called in, lure us into seeing it all simply from her point of view, as just the way things are at home. It kept reminding me, oddly enough, of the small town life in Tom Sawyer. There have been many presentations of Africa as the Dark Continent. Here we have a credible portrait of it as the Sunny Continent, as it can be in those times and polities where history is kind enough to leave it alone for a while. It gives us, third, a break. The language is as simple and direct, though not as self-consciously so, as Hemingway's. Even when witchcraft and child murder darken the storyline, the pace is unhurried, the goodness of a shared cup of tea and a back porch conversation celebrated. The pain of all Africa's history touches our heroine's life, and colors the edges of the story; the vastness of the interior somehow generates and gets reflected in the personal dignity of the townspeople; yet everything takes place on a human scale. It is hard to imagine anyone sitting down with this book and coming away less than disarmed.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I was looking for
Review: I was going crazy after finishing the latest of Van Reid's Moosepath League books,wondering how I could wait until the next one is published,and praying there was something else out there that was as fun,funny,and heartwarming,as well written and engaging. Then a friend told me about a recomendation from Amazon and lent me the first of this new mystery series. It is wonderful and just what I needed after my post Moosepath let down. Like the best mysteries, character and place come first,and the suspense comes out of caring about the people in the story. I need to get the second book right away. I'm having a post Ladies' Detective Agency let down!
Rating:
Summary: Very glad I found this book!
Review: This book is deceptively light and delightful -- a splendid, fun change in a genre which is known -- mostly -- for its noir-appeal. The only thing I can add to the praise for this series is that in my opinion the cover art on the English version is overwhelmingly more attractive and well-suited to the books. Thank goodness few readers are judging this one by its (American) cover!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely charming!
Review: Loved this book! Didn't want it to end. It's a quick read. I was enjoying the book so much that about 1/3 of the way through it I went out and bought the other three in the series. (they all read as independent books, though - you don't need to have read one to read the others). Loaned this to my mom - she was clamoring for the other three books by about halfway through the first one. Big big thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Glad I found this. . .
Review: This was a delightful, refreshing read. After reading some heavier books, this book was perfect. You can't help but fall for Mma Ramotswe and her antics. The author's descriptions of the African country made me feel the heat and smell the dust. Not every book has to be written for or by a literary genius - this is fun!
|
