Rating: 
Summary: Even better aloud!
Review: I read this book to my 93 year old father. Pretty soon he was telling me he wasn't quite sleepy and hinting for another chapter. The connection that Mma Ramotswe had with her father while he was alive and even after his death was beautiful and I am sure was even more meaningful to a very old, loving father who may now think that his love will go on after he is gone. I will start the next book on my next visit and he can't wait. Good luck on pronouncing the names!
Rating:
Summary: The best surprise I've had in years!
Review: This is the most beautifully written book I have ever read. The language weaves a spell around you and the images described are breathtaking. I have to admit this isn't my usual type of book. The hype got to me so I broke down and got it. Boy, am I glad I did!
It is such a treat to be swept away into a foreign land and given an insight into the culture and daily lives of its people. This is a simply written book but it compliments the land, people, and story so well you don't mind. 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' begins with Precious Ramotswe and a modest moment. It is an afternoon where Mma Ramotswe introduces us to herself and Botswana. She is enjoying her time at her "only female detective agency" in Botswana. The novel travels from the present to the past in such a fluid way; it makes you believe that stories could only be told in this way. Alexander McCall Smith creates a strong female character that is down-to-earth, while being intellectually and morally evolved. Precious carries her client's problems as her own. They instinctively become yours as you feel a part of her life. She shares with us the beauty and tragedy of her beloved Botswana. This country is lucky to have someone who loves it so much. As we are introduced to the people in her life, don't be surprised if you end up feeling sorry of those don't take her advice. Her logic defies comprehension and you find yourself agreeing with it without question. It is a treat to find a character that you wouldn't mind being like. Mma Ramotswe is worthy of imitation. For a story that will tug at your heart and having you cheer Prescious' clever ways, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful and fresh
Review: This splendid little book tells us how Precious Ramotswe, who has inherited some money from her father, uses it to set up a detective agency, armed with a manuel on how to be a detective and a secretary she does not need but thinks it important to be seen to have. It is quite episodic, midway between a set of short stories - detailing Precious various cases, checking the credentials of a suspect long lost father, investigating a suspect claim for an industrial injury, determining the fate of a missing husband, tailing an overprotective father's teenage daughter, figuring out why a doctor at the local hospital is sometimes so good and sometimes so bad - and a novel, united by the characters of Precious, her relationship with Mr J. L. B. Maketoni (a very close friend but we are never told a what his first name is) and an investigation over a missing boy which runs through most of the book. The book differs from a conventional detective story in many ways. For one thing there is no murder and most of the cases Precious investigates are fairly minor undramatic affairs, only rarely involving any serious crime at all - exactly the sort of cases such a person who most likely spend most of her time on in real life. For another it is set in Botswana, not a country the genre has made much of hitherto. And it is a joy to read, most particularly for the characters of Precious - terrified of snakes, utterly unfazed by lawyers and gangsters - and Mr J. L. B. Maketoni, the bachelor mechanic who is smitten with her. It must be nice for the author that his books come up first under "most popular results [of 32000!] for Smith" but it's a success this book very honourably earns.
Rating: 
Summary: I tried to love it
Review: I give the author points for character development - the heroine is so human with all the good and bad that goes along with that but the plot is painfully slow! Precious is clearly a 3 dimensional character as are the people she meets throughout her journey but I found myself thinking "do something - anything to move this story forward!" In all, the book failed to hold my attention and I found it rather boring.
Rating:
Summary: HURRAH!!!!! This book is back in the top 100 again!
Review: Hurrah! This witty, moving, funny, brilliantly well-written, superbly characterised novel is back in the top 100 again. (It ought to be no.1). The author , who must be one of the nicest people ever to grace a bestseller list, also paints a much more accurate, hopeful picture of Africa than we often see on the news - Botswana is one of the real success stories of post-independence Africa. Read it, buy it for all your friends and then buy a whole load more for Thanksgiving and Christmas presents - and make sure you do it not just for this one but the whole brilliant series as well. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
Rating:
Summary: A Very Nice Mystery Book
Review: A very nice mystery book. A very enjoyable
read. Adventurous. I don't like to tell about
the plot of the story, as it may take away
from the mystery. I love mystery novels, and
this one is surely a good one worth reading. Diana: Author of: "Inpirational Wisdom For Love,
Beauty, And Richness"; "You Hold The Key To Riches
And Happiness"; (and) Sure Fire Ways To Make More
Money And Get A Better Job".
Rating:
Summary: Scurry, don't shuffle, to buy this book!
Review: I have no idea why I picked up McCall Smith's first book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, I never would have imagined reading a book about a lady detective named Mma Precious Ramotswe who hailed from Botswana. After all, what serious author would name his heroine "Precious"! Why it sounds like the book would reek of drippy/mushy/romancy stuff with a murder tossed in just so it could be labeled a mystery. Wrong! I was so very wrong, for McCall Smith wove magic and I found Mma Precious Ramotswe to be the perfect name for a woman so courageous and determined she is able to shoot a crocodile and slice its belly open looking for parts of a missing child. I relished the fact that here was a heroine who knew when to detect and when to sit and enjoy a rich bowl of cooked pumpkin. Although Mma Ramotswe is overweight she is more than capable of tackling pesky snakes or crooks and still seeing herself as sexy. Mma Ramotswe may be middle-aged but she still understands the yearnings of rebellious teen-agers under strict parental rule. However there is another element to Precious that can't be ignored or easily forgotten, she is a woman of wisdom who sees things clearly, simply. And thus, just as I had in my university days, I found myself looking for a high-lighter to mark thoughts/lines/passages - for these books are not merely fiction - they are literature in its truest essence.
Suffice to say, I have since zoomed over to the bookstore and promptly ordered McCall Smith's third and fourth books: Morality for Beautiful Girls and The Kalahari Typing School for Men.
Rating:
Summary: Precious Ramotswe is just...well, precious.
Review: This book is thoroughly cute--in a simple, homey way. Not exactly a mystery, but rather, a chronicle of the activities of a private detective, complete with fascinating information on Africa, the book is refreshingly different from your average mystery. Mma Ramotswe is just a lovely character--a smart, no-nonsense fat woman who isn't ashamed of being nosy and who starts the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She goes from case to case, helping people, making liars confess, tracking cheating husbands, wayward daughters, and, in one particular case, a fake Daddy. The book is witty and beautifully written in a simple, very readable, flowing prose. I could hardly put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful experience
Review: Extrordinary book. Living in the present as an art form. Precious is an experience one can only hope to meet in the real world. All 4 books bring you into an extraordinary world. Very well done Mr. Smith!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this wonderful debut!
Review: THE LADIES' NO. 1 DETECTIVE AGENCY is the first novel by Alexander McCall Smith, a medical law professor at Edinburgh University. A wonderful book with smart characterizations and enough mystery to keep you going; the scenery is breathtaking, if somewhat severe: we are at the edge of the Kalahari. There are many interesting details about life in Africa, specifically Botswana, and many intriguing insights into mores and manners. I really enjoyed this book! Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
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