Rating: 
Summary: Move over Miss Marple, Precious has come to town...
Review: Mma. Precious Ramotswe is Botswana's one and only female Private Detective who gets her debut in this delightful first novel by Alexander McCall Smith.This is an easy yet intriguing read with Mma. Precious Ramotswe getting her first case and finding out that being a Private Detective is as much about common sense and good advice as it is about the investigation of a client's case. The plot is neatly cut up into interlocking sections with Mma. Precious Ramotswe taking on her first case to prove if her client's father is actually HER client's father! She gets the answer in a most ingenious way and this opens the door to more cases, including the disappearance of a young boy and a sinister mystery in the form of a small bag of human bones... As you weave your way through the story you meet a selection of wonderful characters like Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni the owner of Speedy Motors who is sweet on Precious, and Mma. Makutsi, the cleverest secretary in Botswana, she scored 97 percent on her secretarial exam and now works for Mma. Precious Ramotswe, serving bush tea, introducing clients and secretly pinning her hopes on becoming a trainee Private Detective! This book is not what you call an exciting read but this does not stop it from being totally engrossing and enjoyable; in fact if you are looking for excitement it is best that you give this book a miss as you will be disappointed. It is slow an interesting read, with plenty of description about Botswana life and her people, as well as the mystery element of a Private Detective novel. Mma. Precious Ramotswe has been likened to an African Miss Marple, well I am inclined to disagree though I do think she is as clever as Miss Marple, she does not have Miss Marple's ruthless streak. Rather she is compassionate and understanding about the frailties of human nature. In the not so distant past she herself was a battered wife with a short lived marriage to a violent trumpet player who deserted her as well as having the joy of motherhood for a brief few days. Because of this Precious has acquired an acute understanding of what it is to be flawed and full of human desires and like Miss Marple uses her experiences to understand the situations she is asked to investigate. But as I said before the similarities between the two is like chalk and cheese. Well worth the read, but remember don't expect fast cars, fast women and fast men. This is a story about life on the edge of the Kalahari, were life can be both beautiful and harsh. A cracker of a first novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good, "Cute" & "Sweet" in Some areas
Review: Okay, I was not wow'd by this book, but found it to be a decent, more subtle read. The main character is endearing, she doesn't flinch in any situation to stand up to whomever necessary and do what is morally right. I think that because of that, you inevitably root for her. It is also interesting that a man wrote this book from a woman's point of view and did do a pretty convincing job of it. However, I was not so moved by the book that it made me want to go out and read all of the more recent books by that author, some featuring the same main character. This was not a bad book that I regret reading, but it didn't really leave any lasting impressions or feelings with me either.
Rating: 
Summary: What am I not seeing?
Review: I'm wondering what I am not seeing in this book. It came highly recommended by a friend and I picked it up recently to read on a plane. The main character is a likeable sleuth, though her opinions about men consist mostly of stereotypes so blatantly sexist that I couldn't help thinking more than once, "A book whose main character spoke so disparagingly of women would never get published, and certainly wouldn't get the favorable press that this book has received." The best part of the book is Africa, which is there, but not vividly enough to make up for other things that are missing, like a plot. The book is vignettes about Mma Ramotswe's cases. The back cover leads you to believe that "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." It would be a good book if that statement about a heart tugged at, danger, and a case that exists at the center of the book were true. The missing boy case takes up a total of about 10 pages of the book, 15 at the most. I kept waiting for the vignettes 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. I was disappointed in the writing, the stereotypical view of males, and the lack of a mystery in the story that engaged me for more than a few pages. Was it better than the in-flight magazine on Northwest? Definitely. Would I recommend it? Not if you want a good mystery, unless your options for reading material are limited. For a literary introduction to Africa, read The Poinsonwood Bible. For fluffy and unbloody yet charming mysteries with coherent plots, read Dorothy Gillman's Mrs. Pollifax books.
Rating:
Summary: The Blessings of Revisiting Botswana
Review: Having visited Botswana a few years ago and having been a female private investigator in a past life, a friend couldn't help but introduce me to 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'. How could I resist this one? It was a literary blessing and near spiritual experience to once again cross the Atlantic to escape the complications and experience the purity, the simplicity and the primitive beauty of Botswana. This a land where, when trees fall across the dusty, sandy roads, the tree is not removed. It's just time for the road to change its course, leaving the tree to continue its cycle through the ecosystem. Mma Precious Ramotswe and her circle of family and friends easily mimic the respectful and infectious spirit of this land. I could easily identify with her love of her homeland and her desire to preserve the freedom and justice Botswana brings to its people. Her common sense and logic, cunning ability to outfox the fox, combined with her strength of character, confidence and dogged courage make her a new literary heroine for me. Alexander McCall Smith has captured the essense of Botswana and its people perfectly through his endearing characters. I can't wait to be infused with more of Precious' wisdom and hilarious antics.
Rating:
Summary: The No. 1 Ladies Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith
Review: I have listened to all 4 in the series of the No. ! Ladies Detective Agency installments to date & thoroughly look forward to the next publication in April, 2004. First of all, the ongoing story of the agency & it's encompassing characters is charming. Characters have an honest, down-to-earthness about them which is refreshing. The characters have character! Not the norm for all novels. Each one has a conscience and has insights to their own behavior & actions. They care about one another & act like true friends. Secondly, there is the local color--these stories are set in Africa...Botswanna to be exact & it sheds light on the culture & the geography & subtly describes how the characters are affected by their environment, climate and history. I had not thought much about inhabitants in Africa, but the novels portrayed the characters in a way that fostered bonding with them instanteously.
Then there is the wonderful narration by Lisette Lecat, who has a beautiful and engaging voice. She makes the story come alive.
Rating:
Summary: A rare gem
Review: The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is a treasure. It defies the usual boundaries of genre: While a work of fiction, it evokes memoir and spirit of place (eg Elspeth Huxley's Flame Trees of Thika or Rumer Godden's India stories). While the heroine solves mysteries, the emphasis is less on the mystery to be solved than on life in Botswana, the character of the resourceful and indomitable heroine, the innocence of the victims and the motivations of the perpetrators. While it is fine to read a good mystery, a good novel, a good memoir, a good travelogue--this book is all of the above. It is a truism to say
"This is a book you can't put down" but I do recommend that you abandon your workday schedule when you pick up this book as you will not want to put it down and will likely then seque into Tears of the Giraffe and McCall's other little masterpieces. It is a book that can transport you.
Rating:
Summary: Best Read with Bush Tea!
Review: The first thing that you might notice about this book (indeed, the whole series is the language. The no. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is written in this precise, methodical, but wonderfully melodic and wholly satisfying tone, that immediately reminded me of so many real people in former British colonies dedicated to using and mastering Queen's English. It only adds to the character of the novel as a whole. By the end of the first chapter I was even thinking in shorter, more precise sentences. The second wonderful aspect of this novel is its heroine, Mma. Precious Ramotswe. She has somehow managed in Gabarone, Botswana to cultivate the common sense of Miss Marple, the good manners of Hercule Poirot and the savvy and discretion of Hetty Wainthrop. Then there are the sort of cases that come her way and the people she encounters, but to get into detail might ruin it for someone else. My advice is to buy or borrow the bookand settle down with a nice hot cup of bush tea (this really heightened the experience for me - it's known as Rooibos or Ruibos in North America!).
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Having read so many glowing reviews, I picked this book up and promptly signed my name in it. When I was done - I wished I hadn't written in it, so that I could return it!!! I found this book slow moving, trite and uninspiring. Maybe if I had more knowledge of Africa and the every day slang used there, I would have become more involved in the stories. I'd say if you want a book to read that's "just a book to read", and not something you become immersed in, then this book would be ok.
Rating: 
Summary: Good beach read, I suppose
Review: It ain't great literature, but nobody promised it was, and besides, it's a great beach read, and you learn quite a bit about Botswana in the bargain.
Premise is that a woman sets up a one-lady detective agency, not only the #1 agency of its kind, but the ONLY agency of its kind. Written as a series of vignettes focusing on the cases that come along, the author explores and enlightens her readers at a leisurely pace, which is just perfect for sitting on the warm sand and glancing up every now and then to check on the children playing at water's edge.
Written with wit and wisdom, this is a book to be read, enjoyed briefly, and then passed on to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: A good woman in Africa.
Review: McCall Smith creates a refreshing fictional world: a Detective Agency set in an African locale. Simple in style, brisk pace, agreeable characters, rich African ambience, less than complex mini-investigations, pleasant reading - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency very much falls within the softer side of crime detection fiction. Mma. Ramotswe, the plump Agency Detective, loves Botswana and its people. In Sunday school, she learned early in life about "good and evil". Later, she suffered a disastrous marriage and the pain of losing a child. Left a herd of cattle by her deceased father (a gripping section recounts his harrowing time as a miner), Mma. Ramotswe sells up and astonishingly opts to sink the proceeds into setting up in business as Botswana's first female private detective. With few assets, no track record, no client base, the Agency needs to establish itself quickly - or shut up shop. Mma. Ramotswe uses commonsense, wit and women's intuition to help people resolve "their difficulties" (not necessarily involving a crime); some cases are funny such as the woman who suspects her husband of playing around, some bizarre such as the inexplicable dramatic fluctuations in a hospital doctor's competence from one day to another, while others deal with missing persons, notably the disappearance of an eleven-year old boy, possibly linked to witchcraft. In resolving cases, Mme. Ramotswe's guiding principle is that Justice is paramount. These gentle mini-mysteries, entertaining in themselves, give fascinating glimpses into African life and culture. In this respect, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, it could be said, is as much about modern Africa as it is about crime detection. Recommended!
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