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Dec 31, 2008

Wendy rated it:

"Mrs. Moffat had taken her hand for comfort, and they had sat there in silence for awhile. Sometimes it seemed as if the world itself was broken, that there was something wrong with all of us, something broken in such a way that it might not be put together again; but the holding of hands, human hand in human hand, could help, could make the world seem less broken."

This was my most favorite book of the series, and I sincerely hope it won't be the last one.

I r More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 24, 2008

Jenn rated it:

I was charmed immediately by Alexander McCall Smith's character Precious Ramotswe in his first book "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency". Since reading that first book several years ago I have eagerly inhaled all the books in that series including his latest "Miracle at Speedy Motors".

"Miracle at Speedy Motors" continues in the same languid vein of the previous books. We follow Mma Ramotswe throughout her adventures in Botswana and at her place of busin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2008

Christi rated it:

To read a book in this series is to take a mini-vacation. The world seems calmer, the people more noble and kind, the pace of life relaxingly slow. The mysteries that form the plot of this novel -- and its companions in the series -- are beside the point. It's the time spent with Mma Ramotswe, her loyal and ambitious assistants, her humble and soft-spoken husband, and the strong-willed matron of the orphan farm which matters. After sitting for a while with Mma Ramotswe (with or without a cup More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2008

Jessica rated it:

These books surprised me, because most detectives investigate murders and stuff, and I hate murder mysteries. A lot. (Sorry, Jen. I love you!)
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, though, are just consistently feel-good, introspective character studies and pools of knowledge about human nature. On top of that, they are really fast to read, and finishing a book always makes me feel good about myself.
I don't read them in order, so don't let this review fool you--I haven't read them all. Even More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2008

Shelah rated it:

Yet another installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This time Mma Ramotswe and her cast of characters destroy a heart-shaped bed, and reunite a long-separated brother and sister.

I always pick up these books at the library, and then put off reading them, because I think I'm not going to like them. And while it's true that seem almost too innocent, too hopeful, I usually decide, like I did with The Miracle at Speedy Motors, that occasionally, reading about Mma Ramotswe's Bot More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 20, 2009

Stig rated it:

Yet another No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novel - I love these books. I know this is not much of a review, but the characters are great, things happen at a leisurely pace and the mysteries are not solved through violence, but through common sense and knowledge of human nature. A real feel-good read. My current Sunday evening treat is watching this series on BBC1.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 29, 2008

Jeanne rated it:

Mma Ramotswe is back, and so is the quiet, gentle, easy reading, courtesy of Alexander McCall Smith.

As usual, there really is no big mystery for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but that hardly matters. Precious Ramotswe tries to track down a woman's relatives, Mma Makutsi gets a new (and unusual) bed, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni hopes for a miracle when he takes his daughter to a doctor in Johannesburg.

There's nothing complex about this novel, which makes it a nice " More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2011

Isabel rated it:

The apprentice, standing beside her, suddenly tugged excitedly at the sleeve of her dress. ‘Look, Mma Ramotswe! Look!’[return]She looked in the direction in which he was pointing and immediately saw what he had seen. Flying ants. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the air was filling with flying ants, rising up from their secret burrows in the rain-softened ground, gaining altitude on beating wings, dipping down again. It was a familiar sight following the rains, one of those sights that took one back to c More...

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Aug 19, 2011

Marion rated it:

This installment in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series brings us back together with the unforgettable characters of Precious Ramotswe (owner of said detective agency), her capable assistant Mma Makutsi, her calm and understated husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and of course those irrepressible garage apprentices.

Most everyone tends to think of a miracle as something grand and extraordinary. The people who work at or near Speedy Motors are surely due for something grand to happen i More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Gerald rated it:

The traditionally built Mma Precious Ramotswe finds a role for her No 1 Ladies Detective Agency in righting small wrongs. Not for her the murder investigations, the grand larcenies, the armed robberies - if such crimes disturb the placid way of Botswana life there are proper authorities to deal with them. Mma Ramotswe and her ambitious assistant, Mma Makutsi, are adept at finding solutions that restore calm to troubled waters without recourse to the courts, civil or criminal. In this instalment More...

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May 11, 2011

Larisha rated it:

In this ninth novel in the Alexander McCall Smith series, Precious Ramotswe, the "traditionally built" proprietor of the #1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Gaborone, Botswana, receives a threatening letter: "Fat lady: you watch out! And you too, the one with the big glasses." Mma Ramotswe and her assistant, Grace Makutsi, of the big glasses, are startled by this letter, and Mma Ramotswe even begins to believe that she is being followed. As the two women deal with their business a More...

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Oct 22, 2010

Sheila rated it:

Reading book 9 of Alexander McCall Smith’s Number one Ladies’ Detective Agency is every bit as enjoyable as you’d expect after reading 1 to 8. I know I’m behind. I know real addicts are already on book 11, but I’m catching up. Botswana continues to enthrall the reader with its beauty, the gentle pace of its culture, the quiet way it reflects a different version of ourselves in might-have-beens. Precious Ramotswe continues to seek and learn, from quiet mountain-side splendor that calms, to fluste More...

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Aug 18, 2010

Kathy rated it:

After a couple of years since reading #8, I finally got around to reading the 9th book in this series. These are really enjoyable books, kind of like checking up on old friends and seeing how they are doing. They are light and sweet. I found myself laughing a lot at little things and touched by some of the sweet scenes. One of my favorite things about these books is the little nuggets of wisdom in there. Here's one little excerpt that really got me thinking, as I've often wondered about the abil More...

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Nov 29, 2009

Aaron rated it:

In this ninth volume in the popular series set in Botswana, Mma Ramotswe is drawn deeply into a pair of surprising mysteries. The first starts after she receives the first of a series of threatening letters that say less than kind things about the detective and her firm. It will send her and her assistant, Mma Makutsi on an interesting journey that will highlight that things are not necessarily what they seem.

The second case centers around a young woman who had been adopted from the More...

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Nov 04, 2009

Bryanna rated it:

The Miracle At Speedy Motors
Alexander McCall Smith
214 Pages

This is a lighthearted mystery that is part of Alexander

McCall Smith's famous No.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. It

is about a woman named Mma Ramotswe who is a private detective

and is called upon to help a woman finde her family, with the

small problem that the woman does not know her real name, or

if any of her relatives are living. Meanwhile, as t More...

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Apr 21, 2009

Marcy rated it:

Alexander McCall Smith does it again! It amazes me that the author is a man because he understands women and their innermost feelings so well! Mma Ramotswe had lost a baby before the series started when she was married to a man who abused her. In one book in the series, she marries Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and they are foster parents to two children. In this book, when her foster son was ashamed that he had been born to a Bushman, Mma Ramotswe comforts him and calls herself "mummy" for More...

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May 21, 2011

Paula rated it:

Sometimes, when life gets a tad overwhelming, even reading material can add to the pressure.

It may be because the story is intense, distressing or tension-filled - or I'm simply racing to finish a library book due back in a few days.

But shouldn’t our reading be our “quiet time”? A time to reflect?

I tend to try and cram “doing” into every waking moment. Some days the closest I come to reflecting on life is while reading –and that only happens if what I’m reading is c More...

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Dec 10, 2009

Sri rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Oct 05, 2010

Sonia rated it:

I originally tagged this book as a mystery by virtue of it being part of the No. ! Ladies' Detective Agency series. However, I realize that The Miracle at Speedy Motors is a story, a novel, a page in Mma Ramostwe's life's journal and even an account of a small sleepy town in Botswana. Alexander McCall Smith seems to get into the mind of this middle aged lady who is in this extremely unusual profession of being a detective. She does not really solve any great, intriguing, murderous mysteries, but More...

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Aug 03, 2009

Michele rated it:

How does he do it? I laughed out loud. I got teary and this is book 9. Only a truly gifted writer could keep a series like this going and going so well. I take my hat off to him. Have you seen the trailer for the HBO special? It looks dang awesome! Wish I had cable!

My fav quotes:
Page 252 A person facing death may suddenly find that he is looking at some humdrum object in his room, and seeing its beauty.

179 Such lives were quietly and correctly led to the very More...

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Mar 10, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

I enjoyed this audio book because it was light, not suspenseful (I could leave it in the car rather than listening between roadtrips), and gave a fun look at a very different (and usually disparaged) culture. A few notes:

1. The author spends a lot of time telling you what people are thinking during a conversation - the tangents their minds travel in the midst of dialogue. I found it amusing but some might get impatient with the "unnecessary" info.
2. The word "det More...

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Apr 19, 2009

Donna rated it:

These books never get dull. I hope there are many more. There HAS to be! Mma Makutsi still isn't married to Phuti Radiphuti! Are all men in Botswana this non-committal? I just get lost in the language such as "Mma Ramotswe frowned" and the "cattle and their sweet breath". I love making parallels into my own life. For instance: in the landscaping industry I work in, my boss keeps making reference to a guy named Vander Kooi who wrote many books on landscaping business. More...

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Jul 26, 2009

Isis rated it:

After the disappointment of the previous book, I was delighted to discover that McCall Smith returned to a simpler and more enjoyable theme for this one: that of family, friendship, and love. I am still finding myself a bit irritated by his dialogue tags in which he tells us how the character responds, before showing us in the dialogue, e.g.: Mma Ramotswe didn't like this. "I must say I disapprove..."

But the relationships - central to this series and particularly, I think More...

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Jul 05, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

I love these books. I can't remember the last time I've been so pleased with a series -- I feel like every time I pick up a new book it's like continuing a conversation with old friends.

This book was one of the better ones. Sometimes I think these books are simple, but then I'll come across a passage in which Mma Ramotswe imagines seeing her father again in the "place that was Botswana but not Botswana, that place of gentle rain and contented cattle." Mma Ramotswe is at he More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 23, 2011

La Stamberga dei Lettori added it

Di giallo come lo si intende classicamente in questo libro ce n'è ben poco, soprattutto in confronto ai fiumi di thè, varietà 'bush', che le due lady detective, Mma Ramotswe e Mma Makutsi, bevono almeno quattro o cinque volte al giorno.

Si tratta di una forma di giallo esistenziale e intimista: più che un'investigatrice Precious Ramotswe è una donna buona, tradizionalista nel senso meno deteriore del termine, sensibile e misericorde, che si occupa di risolvere problemi pratici per i suoi clienti, More...

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Dec 03, 2009

Elaine rated it:

This is the second one of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series that I have read, and I am very fond of the main character, Mma Prescious Ramotswe. I don't like mysteries, and I also dislike "feel good" books, as some call them, but this has endearing suspense, and I feel wonderful at the book's completion. McCall Smith recreats the setting of Botswana with such devotion to that Continent, and the dialogue is fun to read and imagine those beloved characters talking that way. I ha More...

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Nov 22, 2008

Judy rated it:

A thin plot, quickly read, no car chases. Why do I read the books in this series? Easy. Precious Ramotswe--a woman of "traditional build"--approaches life with optimism and a spirit that allows her to enjoy her blessings and the simple pleasures of life. In the 12 hour days and the constant demands on my time, that's refreshing. And even Mma Ramotswe longs for a earlier, simpler time in Botswana. Maybe this progressive, modern world that has reached its tenacles into Africa is de More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

David rated it:

This is the 9th in the series which began with "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency." I warn you - do NOT read ANY of these books. You'll probably find them simple and mundane. However, please DO listen to the audiobook versions! The stories "come alive" in the superb voice of the reader who has done the whole series. I've enjoyed every one, and look forward to each new release. The stories are set in Botswana, and Mma Ramotswe continues to solve simple "mysteries" wh More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Grant rated it:

A while ago, I attempted to read the first book in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, after hearing an interview with the author Alexander McCall Smith. I struggled to get through the book. Then the TV series appeared on our screen in N.Z. I was captivated by the actresses who played Mma Precious Ramotswe and her faithful assistant Grace Makutsi. I was caught up in the lives of the people on Tlokweng Rd, Gaborone, Botswana.
There was something quite special about their relationship and that More...

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Jul 31, 2011

E.M. rated it:

Even before this series got picked up for television, I thought it was perfect for tv. The detective agency has short, episodic cases and the main characters, while they do change, do it gradually. These books don't have a lot of high drama and suspense, but rather a comfortable, easy pace, like a long walk with good conversation to make the miles fly by.

I first met Mma Ramotswe when I found the first of these books for sale at Costco. That was where I'd try out new authors, from their More...

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