I really liked this book. Grace was able to take on a case by herself while Precious was on another case in another village. Both ladies have wonderful instinct and ability to find answers to their clients' questions.

The author portrays the life and times of the people in Botswana very well. I will continue to read more books of the adventures of these ladies in this detective agency.

A fun re-read. I enjoy these books so much, and it was the perfect light yet interesting fiction that I needed between a few heavier books.

Did I read the same book as the 4 and 5 star reviews?

This book really ramps up the sexism in the second half,
and there is no mystery.


I finished it but I played the last handful of chapters on 2x speed.

A delightfully gentle series of books by Alexander McCall Smith - set in and around Botswana's capital city of Gaborone and stories of the 'No.1 Ladies Detective Agency'.

McCall Smith has created a lovely world of mainly (very) amateurish sleuthing - which whilst ostensibly the theme which is central to these books, is ultimately almost incidental. The main draw here is the cast of well drawn, well written, very memorable and on the whole very endearing (if occasionally frustrating) characters - Precious Ramostwe, Grace Makutsi, J.L.B. Matekoni et al and the interplay of their lives - the detective work and cases here become increasingly an incidental backdrop.

The 'No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' stories and characters certainly have an air of authenticity and believability (although obviously contrived and significantly exaggerated for comic effect) and interestingly McCall Smith did spend some time living and working in Botswana.

The first few books in the series are undoubtedly the strongest, funniest, most entertaining and compelling. Whilst later installments are all good - they do feel like somewhat of retread of ideas that McCall has spun out perhaps beyond their natural course.

Whilst serious themes are alluded to - feminism, AIDS and domestic violence; there is little here that is particularly thought provoking or challenging - but then that's not the point here. For anyone wanting a series of light, likeable, entertaining, funny, absorbing, well written and compelling amateur detective books - with a difference, then the 'No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' books are a must.

Good stories, simple truths - people doing the right thing. Ultimately these stories are all about kindness, forgiveness, restitution and resolution. Which in itself is surely a good enough reason to read at least some of this lovely series of books?

And there goes another one. Reading a No.1 Ladies Detective Agency’s book is always so much fun.
In this one, the story broadens: we have Mma Ramotswe's investigations as always but also the newly promoted Assistant Detective, Mma Makutsi, whom also has to keep an eye the apprentices at Tlokweng Speedy Motors because the Agency has moved there to save costs. It’s nice to see her step out a bit of her usual secretarial activities and have her investigate on her own. That way we can switch focus from Mma Ramotswe a little. Besides, the apprentices are kind of fun, here's hoping they will have names soon and keep appearing.
There are two things that are left without answer: first, the wild boy that is found in the bush and second, J. L. B. Matekoni suffering from depression. I hope they revisit the boy’s story, it’s seems like they talked too much about it to just ended with a few lines at the end; plus, it has potential. And there appears to be a glimpse at something bad that J. L. B. Matekoni may have done in his past. I’m not sure where they are going with this story, so, we’ll see. He's a lovely character and I kind of missed him in this one.
There are a lot of things going on in this book and while checking the pages that I had left to read, I thought either Smith wasn’t going to close them all or do it in a rush. But no, he manages to finish all the ongoing investigations without hurrying. I guess I’m too used to books dragging mysteries that I’m surprised this doesn’t have to be like that.

Overall, it’s such a delight to read this series, I’m already eager to grab the next book.

What endears this series to me and what makes me uncomfortable about it is its resounding cuteness. Plump Precious Ramotswe -- the "Miss Marple of Botswana," so the blurb on the book's front cover reads -- is indeed very cute. She drives a cute white van and solves quotidian mysteries by relying on cute traditional Motswana customs and proverbs. What bothers is me is how that cuteness bleeds into what sometimes feels to me like condescension: Precious Mma Ramotswe is not Miss Marple; she's Miss Marple's lucky but naïve African sister. I don't know if the series' cuteness grows progressively stronger or if I grow progressively more alert to it. Anyway, cultural superiority aside, Morality for Beautiful Girls is a decent read. I like that Mma Ramotswe's secretary has a bigger role this time around, and I like that the author, who by this third book seems reassured that there's a future for the series, doesn't feel like he has to cleanly wrap up the whole plot in just a couple hundred pages: I'd say this is the volume where The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency starts to feel less like a good first book with sequels and more like a proper series. Eventually I'll probably give #4 a chance...

A fun simple good feeling read.

Like I have done so many times before, I didn’t start this book series until seeing the tv show that was cancelled after just one season. Seems the show wasn’t as good as the books, which is what a lot of the reviews declared. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I will say that I am really enjoying the book series.

The gangs all back for this third installment which includes Precious, her assistant, Grace, and her new fiancé, JB, the local mechanic, along with the two orphaned children that JB agreed to foster. Precious and JB decided that the kids should live with Precious and they would all live together after she and JB married. It was also decided that JB would create space for Precious’s detective agency on the property next to his auto shop. This would be more beneficial for Precious in being able to keep her business going. Precious is struggling with the financial strain of the running a business.

The book summary is pretty vague and hardly does more than the brief paragraph of the storylines. It’s pretty early in the story when Precious begins to suspect that JB may be suffering from depression and is starting to let things go, like his relationship with Precious, the kids and his business. Fortunately, Precious immediately picks up the slack and installs Grace in the shop as Acting Manager to get on top of the business affairs as well as those two lackey apprentices.

There are also the secondary storylines of Precious’s cases. One is about getting rid of a new wife, who is suspected of poisoning her husband in an effort to get rid of him and his parents so that she can inherit the husband’s estate. I loved the passage where Precious was pondering the difference between morality and existentialism and not in just the matter of beautiful girls either, because she has a whole other opinion of beautiful girls. Love Precious!!!

There is also the storyline of Grace working on a case in determining the character of the four finalist of a local beauty contest. A well-known journalist who covers the contest has been having issues with some of the contestants being disreputable women. Loved Grace’s musings on the inequality between men and women, especially in how they are raised and the harmful ways that parents exasperate the issues of inequality in the way they raise their sons and daughters.

McCall Smith packs a lot in 240pgs and I enjoyed the continuing character development of Precious and JB and their relationship as well as that of Grace in her new role. The pacing of this series can be slow at times, but so much of it is spent on continuing character development and a lot of introspection with Precious and the reader and all her thoughts as she travels through her days in early 21st century Botswana. I’m a character driven reader and I enjoy these types of development because a reader can get a better sense of who the character is and what is going through their mind. The storyline was in line with the moral of the story and the writing was well done. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.2 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review.

I am an absolute sucker for a book with good, kind people and edifying words. Those books will always be 5 stars.

“That understanding, thought Mma Ramotswe, was the beginning of all morality. If you knew how a person was feeling, if you could imagine yourself in her position, then surely it would be impossible to inflict further pain.”

“Morality is for everybody, and this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it.”

“The real poison within families… the poison that grows up in the heart when people are jealous of one another and cannot speak these feelings and drain out the poison that way.”

“It is sometimes easier to be happy if you don’t know everything.”

As I already said, I'm living to read this series

Third novel in his Lady Detective agency. It's a lovely book, old fashioned in its slow pace, very low key plot.It's a slice of life from a world that moves at a different pace from ours. In this we meet our detective Mma Ramotswe again facing the daily chores of a business woman (her business is not making enough money to cover Mma Makutsi's raised in status and pay), an engaged to be married woman (her fiancé Mr. Matekoni is acting strangely). Mma Makutsi takes on her first case and the apprentices in Mr Matekoni's garage. All ends well as it should be but the journey there was interesting.

The third installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a continuation of the downhill progression from the first one. Smith has introduced too many characters to keep the plot line simple and focus on the atmosphere and environment. Mma Ramotswe needs a list to keep track of everything that is going on, and I felt like I needed one too. Mr JKL Matacomie has depression (which was handled poorly), a little boy is found in the wild, her adopted children are settling in, her assistant is being promoted, the car shop and detective agency are being combined, a government official wants his brother's wife checked out, and that doesn't even get to the title's plot line of a beauty pageant look for beautiful girls with integrity.

I found the book so scattered that it felt as though Mma Ramotswe didn't truly care about the adopted children or Mr JKL Matacomie, and she even felt pressured by the detective agency. There was too much round-about discussion about morality and too many story lines for such a short book. All together, I didn't really like it.