First let me state that I stayed in Botswana for 21 years. My parents and my fathers family still stay there. I love Botswana. I love its clean air, its simplicity, its people, its cool polished cement verandas and I'd do anything to see one more African sunset even right now.

Now onto this book. It is written by a white man about a black woman and I found it racist and patronising. The story is too simple. The crimes are too too easy. Maybe he was targeting a younger audience.He knew that this book was going to be read by many Motswanas, so I believe he picked his words a little too carefully because he tried too hard not to sound racist. Compromising the pace of story (which was slow) and he took a very weak plot.. in the end he still sounded racist.. ie his efforts were pointless.. here are some points why:

1. He wanted this book to introduce people to Botswana to its culture. Like a tourist pamphlet in a novel. Sadly the geographical information was highly inaccurate. If she had an office at the foot of Kgale Hill, she would not have had a view of the Kalahari, but instead she would have had a beautiful view of the Mokolodi Game reserve. The desert in fact is no where near Gaborone. The truth of Botswana is equally beautiful so why make these lies to sell the country more? This can only be done by a person who thinks that Botswana as it is, is not enough so lets move places around hoping it would make the country sound interesting.

2. "There must be many women driving around the town in their husbands stolen cars.." This is the most stupidest thing ever said by the author and not at all true. Is he saying the main way that blacks can have cars is if they steal them? Racist much?

3. " Every so often you met a white person who understood, who realised how things really were, but these people were few and the other white people often treated them with suspicion." This is pretentious shit..

4. He mentioned a lot of the dry Botswana beauty. But so many times he sounded like he was trying to convince himself of it.

He wrote stating that he loves Botswana and the ‘blacks’. Yet when he dedicated this book at the beginning, not a single person was black or staying in Botswana. Irony?

I can see something ugly underneath his words. And I dont like it. Its commercial fiction aimed at pleasing the black race written by a white guy. He tried hard not to sound racist. And he failed. This is just my opinion.

I put off reading this series for a long time until I found out that it wasn't a book 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 culture in general, working in the diamond mines of South Africa, and human nature. Through the first-person account of Precious Ramotswe we are treated to an assortment of quirky detective stories that are intertwined with the ups and downs of her life. It is in various parts funny, interesting, and heartbreaking.

I especially like when the things that she experiences reveal truths about human nature and life in general:

"You can go through life and make new friends every year--every month practically--but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into the adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steal."

And there are often some short but profound observations that find their way into the middle of the cases she is trying to solve. Mma Ramotswe was in the middle of cracking a case and approached the house of a dangerous, child-abducting witch doctor and asked for a class of water:

"She turned around, almost guiltily, and stared. It was a large black beetle, a setotojane, with its horny neck, pushing at a minute trophy, some insect tht had died of thirst perhaps. Little disasters, little victories; like ours, she thought; when viewed from above we are no more than setotojane."

I try not to be too effusive with my praise and rate books four and five very often. I gave this a three, but that doesn't mean I don't think it is a worthy read. I definitely plan on reading more of the series; what endorsement can be better than that?

Just wonderful! I wish I could meet the heroine in real life.

I see that many readers shelved this book under mysteries. I would say if you picked this book expecting a crime/mystery genre, you would be disappointed. Yes, the heroine solves mysteries as part of her business of being a private detective. But the mysteries are very small part of the story and they are not why I loved the book.

What really is wonderful is how these detective stories turn into little pieces full of fascinating descriptions of Botswana, insights into culture in all its myriad forms stitched together by a deceptively simplistic language into a big and colorful quilt. A quilt that represent a heartfelt love of the country. It's one of those books that you read for the journey, not the destination.
And at the heart of it all is our wonderful heroine, Mma Ramotswe, the first lady detective in Botswana.

After her beloved father death, Mma Ramotswe used her small inheritance to open a business, “the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”. It wasn’t easy at the beginning as she battles chauvinism, sometimes works for free for a good friend, and gradually develops a solid name for herself. Her native good sense leads her to creative ways of solving cases involving insurance fraud, wayward teenagers, and cheating husbands. But, as I mentioned, there is so much more to the story than just retelling the cases.

I love Mma Ramotswe. In a culture where female dependence is embedded in history, Mma acts with extraordinary strength and courage. Her determination to overcome adversities in life both personal as well as societal earned her admiration and respect from many even from some men who wanted to dismiss her in the first place.

There was a funny scene when the heroine went to a lawyer about opening her business:

n  The lawyer winced as she spoke. “It’s easy to lose money in business,” he said. “Especially when you don’t know anything about what you’re doing.” He stared at her hard. “Especially then. And anyway, can women be detectives? Do you think they can?”

“Why not?” said Mma Ramotswe. She had heard that people did not like lawyers, and now she thought she could see why. This man was so certain of himself, so utterly convinced. What had it to do with him what she did? It was her money, her future. And how dare he say that about women, when he didn’t even know that his zip was half undone! Should she tell him?

“Women are the ones who know what’s going on,” she said quietly. “They are the ones with eyes. Have you not heard of Agatha Christie?”

The lawyer looked taken aback. “Agatha Christie? Of course, I know her. Yes, that is true. A woman sees more than a man sees. That is well-known.”

“So,” said Mma Ramotswe, “when people see a sign saying NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY, what will they think? They’ll think those ladies will know what’s going on. They’re the ones.”

The lawyer stroked his chin. “Maybe.”

“Yes,” said Mma Ramotswe. “Maybe.” Adding, “Your zip, Rra. I think you may not have noticed …”n

Although in parts the book is quite funny, on the whole I found the story moving and lyrical and full of quiet wisdom.

This was a selection for my book club. I’m very glad to discover such a wonderful gem.

Mma Ramotswe smiled at her old friend. You can go through life and make new friends every year - every month practically - but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel. pg. 221

I didn't like this. It's very cutesy. I am sorry, "Cutesy" books are not for me. Books can be cute, I can enjoy cute books, but not cutesy ones, I'm afraid. Another example of a cutesy book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

Allegedly this is a mystery novel, but I'm afraid if you are expecting a traditional mystery novel you will be disappointed. For one thing, McCall Smith is prone to going off on tangents. For instance, the part of the book that explains Precious's daddy's life and his experiences. It has nothing to do with the plot. Or the part where a cobra gets into her truck. Again, it has nothing to do with anything.

Secondly, there is not a main mystery. Instead, here McCall Smith has strung along a series of little mystery vignettes. People come to Precious with their problems. Precious always solves them in a very cute way. She confronts the villains and scolds them. Then the villains are ashamed, and apologize. Then she usually lets them go without punishment.

Does that sound unsatisfying to you? Than you won't like it.

McCall Smith also brings in serious issues - issues that are quite serious for a cutesy book. In that way, I will also compare him to Zevin. Zevin wants to write about cancer and suicide, but craft a cutesy novel. McCall Smith talks about rape, wife-beating, a man beating the pregnancy out of woman, child slavery and etc. But he still wants to maintain this cutesy atmosphere for his whole book. It's quite weird. I also thought Zevin was weird. It's a weird thing to do. And people are always talking about how 'comforting' and 'charming' these books are. Sure, Mma Ramotswe sits around drinking bush tea. People delight in her fatness, she delights in her own fatness. Men are always proposing marriage to her. She catches criminals, but she's like a mommy. She scolds them and tells them they are bad! Then they are shamefaced and apologize. She makes them promise never to do it again and lets them go! I guess if you like stuff like Janet Evanovich, these books might appeal to you. They are similar in levels of goofiness at times.

She stopped. It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin. pg. 85

You also have weird cognitive dissonance on some things. This woman shoots a crocodile in the head and deftly guts it. Yet McCall Smith has her ENJOY and keep going back to her rapist/wife-beating husband... even after he beats her into a miscarriage. She only escapes this fucker because he abandons her. Is it realistic? Perhaps. We could have arguments in the comments about statistics and the psychology of domestic abuse. But is it frustrating as a reader and even more anger-inducing since the whole book is so fucking cutesy and precious? Absolutely. He also tries to convince me Precious enjoys being raped on some level. This infuriated me. Why are men always writing this shit? It reminds me a lot of Paprika, another book written by a man who insists on writing a female MC and telling the reader she likes rape on some level. Or Ian Fleming, I guess.

My head was kind of spinning as I read this. I couldn't believe what I was reading at points. There's a huge, huge persistence of this idea of "simple Black folk" living "simple African lives" with "simple, happy African values that white people can't appreciate" that really got under my skin. I'm very confused as to why some authors are given a complete pass and some are persecuted by mobs of angry leftists. (Full disclosure, I'm a liberal.) I'm not saying anything about McCall Smith or his personal beliefs or his ideas, I don't do that since I'm not a SJW but it's very strange to me that this book series is so incredibly popular and it seems there's a communal agreement to just go with it. What the Twitter mobs choose to go after and who they grant mercy to baffles me. I was rather taken aback by this pervasive idea in the book which is constant and unrelenting.

Another thing, which also seemed strange to me, was the persistent anti-men sentiment in the book. Men are disparaged every other page. They are useless trash and not to be trusted. Pretty much all problems stem from them, the book tells us. Meanwhile, women are a source of good and just have to tolerate men and their lazy, criminal tendencies. It was baffling.


IS MCCALL SMITH A GOOD WRITER?

I mean, yes. He is a good writer if you like cutesy. He has one or two scenes in here I even enjoyed. An example for people who have read the book is the scene where Precious meets Mr. Patel for the first time. He has some interesting thoughts. I didn't think he was a slouch at writing.

However, I can't stand cutesy-cutesy books. That's strike one. It bothers me that he has a constant, persistent portrayal of "simple Black folk, simple African Black folk and their simple lives" schtick. That's strike two. And even though I'm not a man, the constant and automatic assumption that men are scum, all men are scum, women are just put-upon and oppressed by dumb men schtick was also annoying and bothersome. I didn't see why it was necessary. That's strike three.

It is a language which is good for telling people what to do. There are many words for push, take, shove, carry, load, and no words for love, or happiness, or the sounds which birds make in the morning. pg. 23
- This is EXACTLY the kind of shitty line that has me foaming at the mouth. UGH. GAG. Cutesy garbage. UGH. The whole book is full of this.


TL;DR Not for me. However, the books are hugely popular and McCall Smith has made a ton of money off them. A lot of people find them charming and cute. However, this book makes me retch a little. It's not my thing. But Janet Evanovich is hugely popular, too, and she is rich and I can't stand her books. So maybe I just am missing whatever button that other people have that makes them feel joy when reading this.

Not trying to yuck your yum, but I have to express my opinions here and this is how I felt after I shut the book. *shrug* Read the whole series if you want, but it's not my thing and I won't be continuing with it. I don't see the appeal.

How sorry she felt for white people, who couldn't do any of this, and who were always dashing around and worrying themselves over things that were going to happen anyway. What use was it having all that money if you could never sit still or just watch your cattle eating grass? None, in her view; none at all, and yet they did not know it. Every so often you met a white person who understood, who realised how things really were; but these people were few and far between and the other white people often treated them with suspicion. pg. 162


NAMES IN THIS BOOK

Precious f
Happy f
Obed m
Josiah m
Note m
Peter m
Shadreck m
Thobiso m
Ernest m
Paliwalar m
Wallace m
Sandri f
Pali f
Nandira f
Clovis m
Bison – dog
Sipho f
Jack m
Billy m
Rose f
Alice f
Kremlin m
Charlie m
Hector m
Solomon m
Jameson m
Grace f

This story is absolutely charming! Mma Precious Ramotswe spends several years caring for her elderly father in his home in Botswana. Her father suffers from lung disease after years working in the mines. When he passes away, Mma Ramotswe inherits his money and uses it to open a business....a detective agency. She is the only female detective in Botswana and isn't really trained in investigation, but she has wits, intelligence, and intuition. At first, cases are few and she worries her business will not take off. But then cases start trickling in.....cheating husbands, a disappearance, a stolen car, a boy who may have been killed by witch doctors, a rich man's daughter who sneaks out to be with boys..... As the list of cases grows, so does Mma Ramotswe's confidence and reputation. She is not just the only female detective in Botswana....she is the BEST female detective in Botswana. The Number One. :)

I have to say that this book surprised me. I have had this first book on my TBR shelf for YEARS....and it just seemed to always get pushed aside for other things. I'm sorry I waited so long! Mma Ramotswe is such an intelligent, witty and capable main character. She greets her every day tasks with love, understanding and diligence. Within this first story her background and history are recounted along with the stories of how she became a detective and her first few cases. Sprinkled in among the cases and anecdotes about Mma Ramotswe's life, there is also the story of the history and people of Botswana. It's just a beautiful, humorous and incredibly entertaining story. I'm sorry I took so long to read it!

I listened to the audio book version of this story. Narrated by Lisette LeCat, the audio is just over 8 hours long. LeCat has a beautiful voice and she brings the characters in the story to life. Totally entertaining performance! I will definitely be listening to more books in this series. I love reading....but having this series read to me will be awesome! I already have the second book, Tears of the Giraffe, checked out from my library's digital site!

There are 19 books in this series so far, with a 20th (To the Land of Long Lost Friends) coming out in September 2019.

A lovely book that is easy to read in the way that Agatha Christie's and Georges Simenon's books are. The investigations are fun and engaging without the excessive periods of self-contemplation that characters endure in other books that are deemed intellectual or 'deep'.

Precious Ramotswe is a straightforward character who likes to help people solve problems in their lives, which is what she does. She gets on with things and finds out the answers in a quick and smart way. She sets up the agency in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, and we get to experience the wonders of this country where the Kalahari Desert is always in their thoughts but is not really somewhere the people want to go.

Precious tracks down a missing husband (unfortunately) in a crocodile, uncovers a con man, works out why a doctor is so inconsistent in his work, and follows the daughter of a wealthy man (where for once she is out-thought)...and then there is Mr JLB Maketoni...but you will have to read the book yourself to find out what happens there.

There are many similarities between the writings of R.K. Narayan and Alexander Mc Call Smith. Alexander in many interviews has named Malgudi days one of his favorite books which influenced his writings. The book is first in the series, when Mma Precious Ramotswe establishes the detective agency. 22 books have been published as part of the series between 1998-2022. Since this one is first in series, it is special and will make you fall in love with Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. Aleander captures the beauty, thrill and small-time pleasures of a small town and its inhabitants beautifully. Though there is no fast-paced action thrill, single night stands, murder and mayhem or any dark mystery lurking around the corner, the novel holds your attention. Delightful read.

"Everything has been something before," said Mma Precious Ramotswe in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. As true for her as it is for the author. Alexander McCall Smith is a British-Zimbabwean national who was a respected medical and bioethics lawyer before becoming a world-famous author — not shabby at all.

In an interview with Maclean's magazine in 2010, Alexander shared his writing method and how it shapes his message. He related how whenever he had tried writing novels with a pen, his writing was stilted, but it just flows when he types on the computer. It is interesting how an author's mind works: how personal quirks shape how they write their characters. Whether the medium is dictation, cursive, or keyboards, it can often change which part of the brain authors tap into for creative expression. In this case, McCall Smith prefers sitting in front of a computer hammering out thousands of words a day, fingers clacking across its keys like a pianist. His writing is crisp (thanks to Matt Pechey for this great word), and "traditionally built," like Mma Ramotswe herself, who dispenses wisdom on "the right approach to life" — but with a Botswana flair. McCall Smith's books are not long, which fits his style. Brevity might be a virtue to him, as it is with his sensible heroine. To some degree, this makes me think he would appreciate one of Elmore Leonard's rules of writing, "if it sounds like writing, rewrite it." Or if he preferred the advice of more hardened writers, "kill your darlings."

Readers of intense suspense, thrillers, and horror mysteries, if a slow character burn is not your style, this book might not be for you.

In the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, McCall Smith debuts his 34-year-old heroine by sharing the "something before" of her life. Going back to her birth and her father's life, Obed Ramotswe, the author takes us on a journey of how Mma Ramotswe grows up to gain wisdom, from her mother's death to the loss of a surrogate mother to a husband who became her abuser before abandoning her. With subsequent losses, one more tragic than the rest, her wisdom only increases, and fortunately, her optimism remains.

Once free of the bonds of her past, Mma Ramotswe blossoms, and she becomes the sensible crime fighter she is, but in her way, in a male-dominated country where the nature of crime is very personal and familial. The facts of the crimes that Mma Ramotswe solves seem less important than deciphering characters' psychology from their eyes and faces. It's a change of pace for a modern reader, who might read book after book whose thrill factor (or horrific nature of the fictional crime) must get more shocking to keep our attention.

If you want a change, try a clean mystery with heart. Check it out.

This is where the series begins, there currently being twenty books in the series. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is a delightful work and a quick read to boot. Smith alternates between small bits of back-story for the central character, Precious Ramotswe, a woman of traditional build, young-middle-aged (30s?) divorcee, heavy with intelligence, gumption and cunning, and the mysteries she unravels as the sole detective of the title agency.


Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe and Anika Noni Rose as Grace Makutsi - from the HBO production

It is rich with payload on local (Botswana) color, and is told in a simple, straightforward manner. One can almost hear it being spoken aloud by a story-teller around a campfire, or a pot of bush tea. It is a good thing that Smith wrote a whole herd of these books. One is not nearly enough.

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Here is a link to the HBO site for the show. If you have not yet seen the series, and are an HBO subscriber, you are in for a treat. Sadly, HBO killed the series after a single season, seven episodes, so that treat will be of limited duration.

There are currently (11/2023) twenty four books in the book series

Lieliska!!! Izklaidējoša, uzjautrinoša un mierinoša. Šai pasaulē viss būs kārtībā, kamēr vēl mēs visi smelsim spēku savā dzimtenē un savos ļaudīs. Grāmatas bonuss - Botsvānas un Kalahari tuksnešu kveldošā elpa...

It is my not-so-secret desire that, in my next incarnation, I'd like to return as a voluptuous black woman.

It's not that I haven't enjoyed being a neurotic white woman. I have. I'm just trying to keep it fresh, keep it current.

And, even though this book is no longer considered "current," I have just discovered it, though many women have begged me to read it through the years.

So, this is my review and my apology. Sorry I was too sure of my literary self to care.

I should have cared and now I do. I care profoundly for the one-of-a-kind Precious Ramotswe and her redbush tea drinking, little white van driving self. I may now live out my dreams of viewing the world as a voluptuous black woman, without ever having to die.

And, for the first time ever I will write this sentence: I'd love to go to Botswana one day!

This was a very quick read after spending 23 days on a lengthy 960 pager and really didn't require a whole lot of thought. It was very easy and fast paced. The protagonist, Mma Precious Ramostswe, a Botswanian woman, decides to open the very first detective agency by a woman in her country. Her father has just passed away and has left her his cattle herd which she sells and uses the proceeds to buy a house and a building for her business. In this first of more than 20 books in the series by Alexander McCall Smith, we are introduced to the beginnings of the detective agency and parts of Precious' childhood and family situation. The author describes the country of Botswana, the desert and the plains as well as the plant life and wild creatures, including deadly snakes. We learn about the people that live here through the friends and acquaintances that Precious works with and works for in solving their problems. She was a smart girl who decided that her main goal in life was to help the people of her beloved country.

She was a good detective, and a good woman. A good woman in a good country, one might say. She loved her country, Botswana, which is a place of peace, and she loved Africa, for all its trials. I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot, said Mma Ramotswe. I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place. They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve the mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do.