Everyone who reads this series knows what to expect. During Covid I thought I'd catch up on the ones I've missed. I'm surprised that I had to wait for my library Kindle hold for over 6 weeks! There's something for everyone here, a little romance, mystery, exotic setting and of course strong women who are very polite.

Fourth in the series, introducing several new, interesting characters. I greatly enjoy the humanity that this author gives so generously to his actors, showing us the bad and the good sides, equally. My only complaint this time is the way he neatly, too neatly, tied up a loose end concerning a budding love affair. We are possibly left thinking that he wanted to finish the book and had no other way than to snip the ends off in an unlikely fashion. Four stars out of five.

Alexander McCall Smith - image from famousauthors.org

Guilt is the subject here. The theme is threaded throughout. The primary client of the book is a mister Molefelo, a hotelier and ostrich farmer. He had committed a crime as a youth and wishes to atone for his sins. Precious helps him of course. Mma Makutsi acquires a beau, Mister Seleliping. She also attempts to begin a new business, and does, the typing school of the title. The detective agency gains competition in the form of a male-run enterprise managed by a very pompous individual.


Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe - Image from BBC

This is the usual comfortable tale told in the usual manner. Smith maintains his high standard. The cast of characters has come to seem familial. We wonder at Mister Maketoni’s recovery from depression. What was it all about? Will Makatsi every have a true boyfriend? Will she become rich beyond all her dreams? Will Precious ever get married to Maketoni?


Anika Noni Rose as Grace Makutsi - image from HBO

If you are new to the series. I would stop, go back and read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It makes a difference seeing the characters develop over time. The books are short, so it will not take much time to get caught up. And if you can, I would definitely check out the HBO series. It is a true shame that the series was killed after only six episodes. Those shows are precious indeed.



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Another excellent entry in the lengthy series. As with the previous book, MORALITY FOR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, Smith takes a further step away from the detective cases of the first two books to instead focus on his growing characters and wryly observed commentary on human life.

Mma Makutsi takes centre stage here, as we follow her decision to open the titular typing school; there are also further plot developments as a rival detective agency is opened in town and Mr J. L. B. Matekoni struggles with one of his adopted children. There isn't much time for real plot, as this is one of the the shortest books yet, but I enjoyed watching things go in different directions before life returns to normal at the end.

Intensely readable as ever, this is a series that makes you savour the pure pleasure of reading.

4★
“‘Ex-CID,’ said Mma. Ramotswe. ‘A retired policeman then. That is not good news for us. People will love the idea of taking their problems to a retired policeman.’

‘And ex-New York,’ said Mma. Makutsi admiringly. ‘That will impress people a great deal. They have seen films about New York detectives and they know how good they are.’

Mma. Ramotswe cast a glance at Mma. Makutsi. ‘Do you mean Superman?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ said Mma. Makutsi. ‘That sort of thing. Superman.’”

Oh dear! Competition. And in the form of a pushy, patronising man, but certainly no Superman. They decide to pay him a visit.

“‘We’ll go in and introduce ourselves,’ said Mma. Ramotswe. ‘I can see somebody inside. They are already at work.’

‘On some big important case,’ observed Mma. Makutsi ruefully.

‘Perhaps,’ said Mma. Ramotswe. ‘But then again, perhaps not. When people drive past the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and see us inside, they may think that we’re working on a big important case. Yet most of the time, as you know, we are only sitting there drinking bush tea and reading the ‘Botswana Daily News’. So you see that appearances can be deceptive.’”

These are simply written, often fable-like stories about a “traditionally built” (her words) woman “in her late thirties, which as far as she was concerned was the very finest age to be”, who has a warm heart, an open mind, and a lively intellect.

Precious Ramotswe founded the #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, hired Mma. Makutsi as her assistant, and has now acquired a fiancé (Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, the owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and boss of two young apprentices), plus two orphans to foster. A crowded, extended ‘family’ for whom she feels responsible.

Mma. Makutsi also wishes to find a life for herself. After all, she was the star graduate of the Botswana Secretarial College, with a 97% score - nothing to be sneezed at! This leads to her starting a typing school and finding a rather sudden influx of men in her life, one in particular whom she mentions to her boss.

“‘He is a very handsome man. With a moustache. He has a moustache and his hair is parted in the middle.’

‘And have you been out dancing with him? Men with moustaches can be good dancers.’”

Is there anything about which Mma. Ramotswe does not have some knowledge?

Meanwhile, there are people to be tracked down and problems to be solved, if they are to stay ahead of their new rival. If Mma. Ramotswe doesn’t know someone, she will know someone who does.

“. . . it was hard to disappear completely in Botswana, where there were fewer than two million people and where people had a healthy curiosity as to who was who and where people had come from.”

I always enjoy the different speech patterns and flow of language in these stories. It is unlike the English I am accustomed to, and the bits of background the author gives us add to the atmosphere. Mma. Ramotswe is frightened of the forest near where she lives, but she’s fond of the place overall. I liked how she thought of the area behind her house.

“. . . the tangle of bush—stunted thorn trees, high grass, and sundry shrubs—which overgrew the back section of her plot. Behind it was a small stretch of wasteland, also overgrown, across which an informal path wound its way. People liked to use this as a shortcut to town, and in the morning one might hear whistling or singing from men on bicycles as they rode along the path. Babies were conceived here, too, especially on Saturday evenings, and Mma. Ramotswe had often thought that at least some of the children whom she saw playing games there had been drawn back by some strange homing instinct to revisit the place where they had started out.”

Life coming full circle? I also got a kick out of another of her thoughts.

“Why is it that there are always these problems and misunderstandings between men and women? Surely it would have been better if God had made only one sort of person, and the children had come by some other means, with the rain, perhaps.”

Or the stork? Or under a cabbage? These are always reliably entertaining stories, thought-provoking and nudging you a little to think about what life is like in other places. I don’t know that they have to be read in order, but I think reading the first couple of books would be helpful.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Link to my review of #1

Tears of the Giraffe
Link to my review of #2

Morality for Beautiful Girls
Link to my review of #3

This series is my current comfort-read. A lovely world to escape into for late-night reading, beautifully written, sensitively told. Really life-enhancing. Wonderful.

Nothing extravagant. Just light easy to read prose navigating you through life choices and the simple methods that can make amends. Include the continual backdrop of the Botswana landscapes, these stories are truely charming.

I am really enjoying this series. I don't think I would have ever tried it, but I was presented with a bag of books and the first of the series was in the mix. Well about 30 pages in and I was hooked. Each book just seems to get better.

In this book, Mma Makutsi, is becoming a better defined character. She is always looking for a way to use her training at secretarial school and her extraordinary 97% score. She decides that men need to know how to type in this computer age and thinks that they are reluctant to study with females in their class because they have come lately to a skill that has been associated with women in the past. She begins her school and is delighted to find that it is very successful.

Mma Patience Ramotswe meets her new competition with poise and grace and triumphs because of her compassionate in insightful nature. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni seems reluctant to set a date for the wedding after his depression and that is of some concern, but it all works out in the end.

This book, like the rest, is not about the crime solving. Most of the problems are typical, but not necessarily easily solved. They are mainly used as a vehicle to participate in the characters lives. Again and again loyal readers come back to check on our friends lives and enjoy visiting and drinking bush tea.

Mma Makutsi starts her own business up in the spare time she has between being Assistant Detective with Mma Ramotswe and Assistant Manager for Mr JLB Matekoni.

The lives of all three continue in their fascinating and often hilarious way as they solve other people's problems and find a few of their own into the bargain. Expect to find yourself with a lump in the throat and a tear well up now and then if you join them in their experiences in Botswana.

I absolutely love these books! This is book number 9 and I'm not one bit tired of them! They are full of personality. I listen to them on audio and the narrator is amazing. You will love it!!

Another lovely slice of Botswana, served as always with Mma Ramotswe's wisdom and philosophy. In this book we see Mma Makutsi come into her own with her new business venture and rise unscathed from a  romance with a man whom she didn't know was married but was being investigated by Mma Ramotswe on suspicion of cheating, under instruction from his wife. (awkward situation) Luckily Mma Makutsi is saved from this knowledge by her friends thoughtfulness and the cheating husband leaves with a vague excuse and present of a necklace

A man feels bad about his behaviour in the past and enlists Mma Ramotswe to help him find those on the receiving end so he can make amends.

A rival detective agency sets up shop nearby and makes some sexist comments in his advertising about entrusting an investigation to a man! Hackles rise, quite understandably. There is some lovely humour in these parts  but he doesn't have the stamina or intelligence of our favourite ladies so soon Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are rid of the competition.

This copy has a lovely picture of Alexandra McCall Smith inside the front cover. He is in his library, leaning on a tuba-Lovely!