I read this series and the Philosophy series when the world is unbearable and my emotions are out of kilter, they always cheer me up and help me through. If books are prescriptions, these would be mood lifters. Times when my husband lost his job, or did not get the job we thought looked liked a sure thing, times when we nearly lost our home and I had a heart attack, these books have helped us through. Times are better now, but it is a comfort to know Precious and Grace and their friends & relations are there, as well as Ms. Dalhousie and company.

I have always loved well-written mysteries, and I was the only weirdo in the fifth grade who was reading Agatha Christie. (The other kids were weird, too, but for different reasons.)

Classics and mysteries were my genres of choice until my early twenties, but, around that time, things changed. My beloved mystery genre seemed to have been hijacked by a "CSI mentality," where the quirky stories of detectives who were far more intriguing than what they were detecting disappeared and rape, graphic violence and scraping skin cells from under fingernails took their place.

I sadly abandoned the genre.

But, now, a couple of decades later, I have discovered Precious Ramotswe and her No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and I am back in love with a local, "large-framed" detective and the goings-on in her beloved Botswana.

All I want to do now is brew myself a pot of bush tea and read the entire series.

2nd book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I was trudging my way through Twilight (still only half done with that book after two weeks--a shame) when I decided to shift my focus to this instead. I breezed through this book. The story picks up right where the last one left off and is just as personable and easy to read. Along with a fiance, Precious has picked up an adopted son and daughter. Some may think she went along with that too readily, but it seemed in character for her to me. Firstly, she'd lost her own child and is unable to have anymore, and it's obvious that she wants children. Secondly, from the way she talks about how traditional and familial that the people of Africa are (or used to be as she thinks this younger generation is going down), would it have been in character for her to cause a stink because of the children? I love how much pride the characters have in their country and how life is just a different experience for them.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first for a couple of reasons. I thought the angle with the maid fizzled before it even got started. There's a bit too much of Mma Ramotswe KNOWING things without any explanation why she might know these things aside from intuition, which can be very strong but not plausible in every hunch. Parts of the book were rambly, and I think this was to give the book a more personable tone. However, it really just makes you want to skip right over it and get to the point at times.

Another great book in the series will continue with it.

I realize this is only the second book in the series, but for whatever reason I read the first one some years ago and then skipped ahead to five and then to seven or eight or so, and am now making an effort to catch up.

But not too fast! The thing about a series you really like is not, IMHO, racing through them all but letting them sit there like money in the bank, waiting for you to savor.

This volume is the one where Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni finds himself adopting two children---without first checking with Precious, his fiancée. Being the lovely lady she is, she of course goes along and moves the children into her own home.

She also promotes Grace Makutsi, her secretary, to assistant detective. Grace solves a mystery, but is then caught in a moral dilemma about what to do with her findings. Meanwhile, Precious is tracking down what happened to a young American man who disappeared there in Botswana many years ago.

The crimes in these series are usually minor ones---instead, they're gentle, optimistic
stories of people and their foibles. I find them a great antidote to the usual edgy and in-
your-face mystery thriller.

Another excellent installment of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. It is sentimental, heartwarming, often gently amusing, but also a touch philosophical, has the inclusion of a few surprising twists, and has a raw realness that beams through the pages. These books feel like you've entered Africa itself and are one with the setting and the larger than life characters.
Just wonderful.

Although it’s been a while since I read the first book, I’ve enjoyed returning to this series set mostly in Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, about the continuing adventures of Precious Ramotswe and her unique detective agency. While I normally am not a big fan of cozy mysteries, I love this series.

There is such a gentle sweetness to these books that it makes me want to crawl inside of them and lie down (like my favorite book by my favorite author, Cannery Row.)

In this entry, Mma Precious Ramotswe becomes engaged to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors (you’ll hear this name a lot.) She promotes her loyal secretary, Mma Makutsi, to assistant detective. And Mr. Matekoni finds himself the adoptive parent of two orphans without telling Precious first. In the midst of all this, the agency will investigate the 10 year old disappearance of an American student and Mma Ramotswe and Mr. Matekoni will deal with his larcenous housekeeper.

And thanks to McCall Smith’s deceptively simple storytelling, it all goes down like carmelized sugar with occasional bittersweet lumps.

The repair, however, would not last for long, and he knew he would have to return to dismantle the pump completely. And how would the vegetables get water then? This was the trouble with living in a dry country. Everything, whether it was human life, or pumpkins, was on such a tiny margin.

If men refused to appoint on merit, then go for a job with a woman. It may not be a glamorous office, but it was certainly an exciting thing to be. To be secretary to a private detective was infinitely more prestigious than to be a secretary in a bank or a lawyer’s office. So perhaps there was some justice after all. Perhaps all that work had been worthwhile after all.
But there was still this problem with the chickens.

Perhaps one day she would find a place where she would stay. That would be good. To know that the place you were in was your own place—where you should be.

One day soon she would drive out to the orphan farm and thank Mma Silvia Potokwane for giving them the children. She would also thank her for everything she did for those orphans, because, she suspected, nobody ever thanked her for that. Bossy as Mma Potokwane might be, she was a matron, and it was a matron’s job to be like that, just as detectives should be nosy, and mechanics...Well, what should mechanics be? Greasy? No, greasy was not quite right. She would have to think further about that.

Unbelievably, this is only one of four series McCall Smith has going currently, and that’s not counting his children’s books. He has such an affection for Botswana and his characters and it shows. Mma Ramotswe and Mr. Matekoni are so much alike in thoughts and values, but they also are two distinct characters and they’ve become one of my favorite fictional couples. I’ll be returning to this series, as well as dipping into other works in McCall Smith’s enormous catalogue.

Наивна,но лежерна и забавна история даваща представа за живота, порядките и манталитета в Африка.
Въпреки симпатичната ведрина на повествованието на много места се усеща проблематиката, мъката на Африка.

A sweet, moving book with so much going for it. Gentle, easy to read/listen to, with some of my favourite characters that I've come across

“Mma Ramotswe reflected on how easy it was to find oneself committed to a course of action simply because one lacked the courage to say no.”

Ever since I finished the first book in the series, I found myself looking forward to the day where I could return to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana and visit with Precious Ramotswe and friends. I was not only charmed by the characters, but with the way Precious solved each case. When it came time to read the second book, Tears of the Giraffe, I was curious to see precisely what kinds of cases would come across the lady detective’s desk.

It was lovely to see Precious Ramotswe, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and Grace Makusti. It was delightful to again see the cases Mma Ramotswe took and how she solved them; although, I confess, I was already aware of some because I’d watched the show after finishing the first book. Either way, however, I was still thoroughly charmed by this.

After discussing the first novel at book club i decided that the series needed to be read, so off I went. Nice and cosy - just like the first one - and felt a bit more depth coming through in the characters. Looking forward to see how it all develops in the next one!

I haven’t been that much into series for the last few years, (or perhaps many years would more precise,) but I’ve fallen for this one. It is not the strongest mystery I’ve read. Alexander McCall Smith sometimes sets up plot lines that might turn into something suspenseful, but then resolves these lines before they actually become that exciting. A example in this book is a plot against the main character Precious which never becomes exciting, but even so I like these books. I like the story, the characters, and the mood. His love for Botswana is infectious. I want to know what happens next to these characters. So, on to the next book in the series.

I love the way Alexander McCall Smith writes, and I particularly like his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Technically a mystery, Tears of the Giraffe, 2nd in the series, is another sweet warmhearted story about life in Gaborone, Botswana seen through the eyes of Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of said agency.

We learn about life in this town as Mma Ramotswe plies her intelligence, keen observation skills and her ability to see people for what they are to solve her cases. The cases aren't the normal murders of standard mysteries, but the more mundane problems facing regular people. It isn't really the mysteries we read these books for, though, it's the wonderful writing, charming characters (mostly) and sharing of this slice of African life.

At least as good, possibly better than the 1st book in the series, this one strengthened my desire to read more of them. Heartily recommended.