false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255582960m/7061.jpg 7061 43 Working in a mystery tradition that will cause genre aficionados to think of such classic sleuths as Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner or Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, Alexander McCall Smith creates an African detective, Precious Ramotswe, who's their full-fledged heir. It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle. If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases. But the edge of the Kalahari is not St. Mary Mead, and the sign Precious orders, painted in brilliant colors, is anything but discreet. Pointing in the direction of the small building she had purchased to house her new business, it reads "THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES. UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT." The solutions she comes up with, whether in the case of the clinic doctor with two quite different personalities (depending on the day of the week), or the man who had joined a Christian sect and seemingly vanished, or the kidnapped boy whose bones may or may not be those in a witch doctor's magic kit, are all sensible, logical, and satisfying. Smith's gently ironic tone is full of good humor towards his lively, intelligent heroine and towards her fellow Africans, who live their lives with dignity and with cautious acceptance of the confusions to which the world submits them. Precious Ramotswe is a remarkable creation, and <I>The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency</I> well deserves the praise it received from London's <I>Times Literary Supplement</I>. I look forward with great eagerness to the upcoming books featuring the memorable Miss Ramotswe, <I>Tears of the Giraffe</I> and <I>Morality for Beautiful Girls</I>, soon to be available in the U.S. <I>--Otto Penzler</I> 826298 book 1998 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, #1) total:20365|5:3979|4:7860|3:6236|2:1762|1:529| 20365 74091 24799 3207 5 20 false false Tue Sep 11 08:42:52 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 14 20:17:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 10 false false Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jun 24 11:40:55 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 29 07:49:31 -0800 2008 Ten Little Niggers gave me chills (since renamed And Then There Were None, for obvious reasons - but I've got an old edition).

...more...]]> 1 7 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue May 06 20:06:24 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 20:11:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 7 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Oct 09 19:07:23 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 30 18:33:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 3 false false Mon Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 13:42:30 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 14:20:27 -0700 2008 for "ladies," but one to be enjoyed by readers of both sexes--and enjoy it I did.

In its simple and conversational manner, this book taught me a little bit about many things: Botswana, African...more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Mar 03 09:59:03 -0800 2008 Sat Apr 12 08:44:44 -0700 2008
I learned that you don't have to write elloquently to write a book. Marcos keeps telling me I should write children's books. This book was so simple and yet so enjoyable that it makes me wonder if I really could write a book too.
...more...]]> 4 2 true false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 22:06:18 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 18:54:36 -0800 2009 2 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 11:32:44 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 08:14:08 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Wed Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 09:18:40 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 25 09:56:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Mar 14 23:29:21 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 14:49:13 -0700 2008 2 2 false false Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Mar 10 13:40:26 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 10 13:41:59 -0700 2008 3 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 13:26:38 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 13:40:04 -0700 2007
The book has charm, especially the main character, Precious Ramotswe. (When her much beloved father is on his deathbed, he summons her and says that he is leaving her money for her to start ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 25 18:46:04 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 16:23:30 -0700 2008
The heart of this novel is its feminist protagonist, Mma Ramotswe who lives in a precious town in Gaborone, still untouched by technology or South African cosmopolitanism. This book is extremely f...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Mar 27 14:00:14 -0700 2009 Thu Jan 08 09:47:14 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 27 14:00:14 -0700 2009
It's my impression that mystery novels are part puzzle and part vehicle for depicting a cross-section of life in some locale. The puzzle part in No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was never very elaborate. M...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 13:17:31 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 13:21:46 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 05:55:08 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 05:58:08 -0800 2009
It has nice short chapters with different cases, so it can be picked up and put down easily and can be read while read...more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 29 09:24:13 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 28 11:10:45 -0800 2009 1
This is my first foray into literature set in Africa, and Botswana in particular. Others have mentioned, as does the cover's blurbs, that this is story has hilarious elements in it. While some of Mma Ramotswe antics and detective techniques brought a smile to my f...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 06:43:07 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 06:45:16 -0800 2009 2 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Nov 03 17:08:28 -0700 2007 Sat Nov 03 17:20:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 06 11:22:29 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 06 11:22:29 -0700 2008
The entire feeling of this book brought to ...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=7061