CAWPILE 6.00

This one was light on the mystery aspect, but charming none-the-less.

I love every book of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and this one was a real treat.

This was such a gentle and pleasant read; Precious Ramotswe is dealing with a case where a rich entrepreneur asks her to vet the four suitors she has short-listed. On the personal front, things are happy but a little uncertain for while she is engaged to Mr J.L.B Matekoni, he hasn't raised the issue of marriage. Grace Makutsi her secretary meanwhile is doing well for herself and moving to a better house. Mr J.L.M Matekoni however is having troubles of his own--he has been manipulated into undertaking a parachute jump for charity and alongside having discovered cheating and theft by another garage has to confront its owner, something he is loathe to do. So Mma Ramotswe must come to the rescue.

“Chapter 8: Tea is always the solution.”
Satya Vachan. Koi chai lao bhai.
(English translation: Truer words haven’t been spoken. Someone get me some bush tea.)

Yet another charming, quick, light read of a series I cannot get enough of.

Малко по-слаба от предишните книги в поредицата, но пък все така приятно и развлекателно четиво.

Все още се кефя най-много на името на раа Дж.Л.Б. Матекони!

Имаме в менюто следните африкански деликатеси - благотворителен скок с парашут, монтьорска измама и богата мома на средна възраст, но с цели четирима обожатели. :)

This was the last of the series I would ever attempt. It was too much like all the others so I finally gave up and decided I would never pick up another. Never have!! This was in 2005.

A nice read..

I love these books. I can't believe it took me so long to start reading them, even though my mom has read them all. Thanks for the recommendation, Mom!

2.5

Mma Rwatse continues to wonder why her fiancée is so reluctant to tie the knot, while taking on a case for a rich woman who wants Precious to check out several beaus to see who is after her money and who is honest. Matekoni is tricked by the head of the orphanage into agreeing to skydive as a way of raising money for the children.

One can feel the series beginning to run out of steam. How many times can the author laud the benefits of a traditional culture before it sounds a bit like a broken record?

Makutsi is moving on up, now that added income from the typing school allows her to afford a better place to live.

We wonder why it is that Precious and Matekoni’s adopted son is so anti-social. I got the sense that there was a fair bit going on here that I was not picking up on as I was rather blasting through it all.

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.

Sad to say that this book fell a bit flat on all fronts and it appears that the author at this point in the series is floundering. I know there are a lot more books to go, but things just seem to have stagnated in the series. It takes almost 1/3 of the book before we even get into a detective case and that is well and good in a 350-400 page book, but when they are a mere 200 pages it shows that the cases are really on the back burner of the book. We continue to learn about Botswana, but the time has come for the author to stop repeating the characters history in each and every book. How many times must we hear about Note Makoti, Mma. Ramotswe's first husband, the background on Mma. Makutsi at the Botswana Secretarial school, etc. etc. I have read where the author is prodigious in his writing and I can understand why, if all you are going to do is repeat the same history in book, after book, after book!
The detective case is weak and the only fun part of this book was the Parachute jump for Charity, in all of its machinations. We also get a very satisfactory ending with regards to Mma. Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, but other than this the author has pretty much let down his loyal readers.
I know, I know, these books are published about one year apart and I have read the first five in short order, but any fan of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency knows the format, the history and most of the rather simplistic plots and cases that resolved. The time has come to shake up this series and hopefully book 6 will be a better effort.