If you have had a rough week, if your day has been hectic and you feel frazzled, I recommend sitting down with The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for a while. I would describe the feeling of reading it to be “calming.” It is very unlike the North American or Scandinavian crime fiction genre.

I’ve never been to Botswana, but I felt like I had taken a mini-holiday there by the end of the book. And you get an insight into the people and their culture than you would never get as a tourist—a sense of how completely different their approach to life is.

Just took a look and have realized that there are seventeen books so far in this series. I have friends who adore them and I can see why they do. I felt that No. 1 was quite well written and I liked Precious Ramotswe very much as a main character. I love the kindness and the gentleness that contrasts with the situations when she gets tough.

This was a selection for my real-life book club and is also a recommendation by Book Riot (their African authors reading list). I’m very glad to have read it and eventually I may get around to further books in the series. For now, I am off to other things. So many books, so little time.

The debut novel in this series is the weakest one, but still good. Still, don't skip The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, as each novel builds on the one that came before.

The novel appears to be a collection of short stories about the cases of Mma Precious Ramotswe, a clever and gentle Botswanan woman who goes into the detective business armed only with a how-to book, an incomparable secretary and her own good sense. In the end, it turns out to be enough, and all the stories tie in together by the last page.

The next book, Tears of the Giraffe, is even better. In fact, each of Alexander McCall Smith's books is better than the one that came before. (What a nice twist from what usually happens: that is, a writer has a great idea for a series, but then runs out of steam.)

I had heard of this series, and in the mood for a light mystery and fond of those that use settings that most American readers aren't familiar with, I gave the first book a try. I was pleasantly surprised by the combination of warmth and seriousness that Alexandra McCall Smith brought to his stories about Mma "Precious" Ramotswe.

Precious decides to go into business as a private detective after her no-good abusive husband leaves her. Mens' violence against women and the extreme sexism of African culture is a common thread running through the book, which, while probably realistic, made me a little suspicious of yet another white guy writing about how badly those non-white people in some other country treat their women. However, I didn't feel that Smith was being patronizing in his depiction of Botswanan culture. Precious is proud of being African, and while she has something of a chip on her shoulder when it comes to men (not without justification), she's a very humane and very sharp person, with friends who are men and women alike.

This book isn't really a full-length novel, more of a series of short stories and vignettes about Precious, her life before and after starting her detective agency, and life in Botswana.

Men frequently ask Precious, "Who ever heard of a female detective?" to which she retorts "Haven't you ever heard of Agatha Christie?" Most of her first cases are not exactly the sort you'd see Miss Marple taking on. Women who suspect their husbands of cheating (which, according to Precious, all men do), a strict father who believes his teenage daughter is running around town with a boyfriend, and an old doctor friend of hers who needs to find out what's going on with one of his colleagues. However, Precious slowly starts brushing up against more serious criminals, and a witch doctor who might be responsible for abducting and killing a child, and who has ties to some very powerful men.

Some of the short pieces are funny, some are beautiful in their description of Botswana and the land and people whom Precious loves so much, and some are sad. This isn't a "cozy" — besides cheating husbands, lazy con men, and the Case of the Disobedient Teenager, there is also rape, racism, poverty, and corruption. But it's a charming and likable book that's mostly optimistic despite the bitter parts. I don't know that I'm in love enough to go read the entire series, but I can certainly see myself picking up more volumes when I want some light reading. 3.5 stars.

I feel like this book, if left to its own devices, would make people cups of tea by surprise and tuck them unexpectedly into bed. This is the most feelgood feelgood I’ve ever felt good about feeling good about.

I don’t understand why it’s not read by more men. The book is absolutely fine, even quite charming, and delivers on all fronts. It’s a fun tale about a quirky Motswana lady who opens a detective agency, seemingly on a whim as we soon discover she has no idea how to detective. While she is streetwise, she mostly solves her cases thanks to a combination of accurate hunches and lovingkindness.

The book certainly idealises life in Botswana (this year the country ranked #146 in the World Happiness Report, just below Afghanistan and only four positions above Syria), but the author doesn’t strike me as naive and I think the gimmick is very much intentional. McCall Smith acknowledges Botswana’s problems in passing, but doesn’t linger on them because that’s not the kind of book he set out to write.

I think books like this are necessary. We tend to praise darker, grittier novels as being more realistic and therefore containing greater truths... But there is goodness in the world, and it was genuinely comforting to read a book that focused solely on human goodness for a change.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Anchor (New York): 1998

SYNOPSIS: Mma Ramotswe is the first lady detective in Botswana, and she is about to prove that women can do it just as well as any man. In a vignette-style, Mma Ramotswe tells us not only about her cases, but also about her father’s life in Botswana, in the mines Johannesburg, and his death. She also relays her own life trials as she discovers the remains of a dead man, challenges the fidelity of a wandering husband, and determines the case of the inept doctor.

STRENGTHS: Smith uses Africa as more than just a setting where things happen. Africa is as much a character as Mma Ramotswe. The broad expanses of dry earth, the brush that defines it as a desert, and the people and culture of Africa are on full display.
tHe also offers gentle commentary on the social strata in Africa, the cruelty of mine labor, and the unethical holds on power that tear apart the continent.
tSmith stays consistent in Mma. Ramotswe’s POV throughout most of the book: simple sentences, short words, and a rare insight into Africa that Ramotswe often adds to remind the reader that she’s not as simple as you think.

WEAKNESSES: What Smith lacks is an ability to draw a plot or unique characters. This story is really a collection of short stories strongly linked by the setting and the main character. To suggest it has any plot line is laughable. There’s no climax, no central theme that carries through. When you do reach the end of the story, it has no finality or feeling of coming down off a high cliff. Instead, you float along in this world that feels more like a figment of Mma. Ramotswe’s imagination, than any kind of reality.
tEven the cases that Ramotswe solves are without climax or mystery. You can figure them out before she does, and there’s no twist or interesting piece of the puzzle added. Each one stands alone.
tSmith’s characters are cookie-cutter. If he didn’t offer dialogue tags, you’d be hard-pressed to figure out who was speaking when more than one character is on the scene. Their dialogue is flat, without any dialect or colloquialisms to make them distinguishable from each other. The wealthy speak in the same simple terms as the poor, the child, the same as the adult. All the women in the stories are rubber-stamped copies of Ramotswe, with a different waist size. The tiny white van and the mechanic hold more personality that Mma Ramotswe and her villains.

READER RESPONSE: 
tBy the end of this book, I found myself irritated. As a long-time reader of mysteries and as someone who has a profound appreciation for the art and formulaic style of sleuth mysteries, Smith essentially thumbs his nose at tradition and writes something that purports to be a detective mystery that ends up being little more than a feel-good piece of cotton candy fiction. There are no plot twists, no brooding characters, no clues to let the reader try to solve the mystery along with Ramotswe. I failed to find the cute elements satisfying, when I’d been promised from the outset a mystery.
tBeyond that, it’s not even a well-written book. Had it been advertised as a collection of short stories or vignettes, I could understand and appreciate the tone and complexity. Instead, it comes across as a poorly developed attempt at a novel. You’d be hard-pressed to find its plot points, and the poorly developed main character offers no change throughout. While the quaint prose offers some amusements, it doesn’t even stick as a commentary on the social condition in Africa -- Mma Ramotswe speaks only of the wonders of Africa, with very little censure for the evils.
tAs someone who has put some effort into researching the life of a private investigator, the premise does not fly as Smith purports it. Ramotswe has no ability to solve mysteries. Instead, he gives her clear cut situations, always the right ammunition, and no delineated reason for the outcome. Ramotswe has no conscience when it comes to lying or stealing if it gives her the outcome she desires.
tIt’s is a shame that someone as clearly verbose and apparently talents as others assure me Smith is, that he would stoop to writing something as vapid and unintellectual as this series. There is nothing literary about it, and I question that it is even commercial. Obviously there is a subset of readers who really enjoy his work, so I accept that I’m in the minority of disliking it. But judged strictly by the genre Smith claims to belong to, this book in particular lacks any teeth.
t

Atzīstos, ka vienīgais iemesls, kāpēc izvēlējos lasīt "Dāmu detektīvaģentūru Nr. 1" ir Grāmatu kluba izvēle šomēnes lasīt Āfrikas grāmatas, un tādu atrast bibliotēkā nebūt nebija vieglākais uzdevums. Lai gan detektīvs tīrā formātā nav man tuvs žanrs (krustotie žanri, ja klāt ir tikpat humora, vēstures, fantāzijas umtl. ir cita lieta), grāmatas darbības vieta Bostvāna šoreiz bija pietiekams arguments izlasīt grāmatu. Nu ko, šoreiz netipiskā izvēle bija patīkams pārsteigums. Man ļoti patika, ka romāns ir nevis viena gara izmeklēšana, bet gan daudzi dažādi atgadījumi (jo man gan patīk stāsti, gan arī tā viena izmeklēšana mani parasti neinteresē pietiekami, lai lasītu veselu grāmatu). Prešesa Ramotsve ir patiešām burvīga galvenā grāmatas varone - gudra, asprātīga un pašpārliecināta tieši tik pareizās proporcijās, lai nekristu uz nerviem un nekļūtu pārāk pareiza: viņa vairākkārt noraida preciniekus un nošauj krokodilu, bet brīdī, kad mašīnā ielien čūska (visticamāk kobra), viņa ilgojas, kaut blakus tomēr būtu vīrietis, kas ar to tiktu galā. Galu galā esmu tik ļoti pozitīvi pārsteigta par grāmatas saturu, ka laikam es pat izlasīšu turpinājumu!

Want to take a trip to Africa for a price you can't refuse? It's free! Just borrow this audiobook from your local library. Precious Ramotswe comes to life through the expert narration of Lisette Lecat. As soon as I started listening I knew that the audiobook was the perfect choice. Ms. Lecat helps the reader to do a deep dive into the culture of Botswana and surrounding areas. The life of MMa Ramotswe lends structure to the 22 chapters about her life and activities as a lady detective. Now I am wondering why I waited to so long to dip into this outstanding series. I also need to check out the television adaptation.

The only thing I didn't like was that it had to end.

I learned that you don't have to write elloquently to write a book. Marcos keeps telling me I should write children's books. This book was so simple and yet so enjoyable that it makes me wonder if I really could write a book too.

Because each mystery/case is so short and precise, it doesn't need all the suspense other books use. I think the suspense in this book is about finding out what the next problem wil be and how clever she is to solve it.


One question asked in book club was if women are more perceptive than men. I don't feel that all women are more perceptive than all men. It depends on personality. However, I would venture to generalize that many women seem to be more sensitive to other people's feelings than most men are.

Not really what I was expecting.

This is like an old fashioned collection of pulp stories. Some of them good, some of them fair. Not a bad one in the bunch, though.

I can see why it became such a long series.

While the book had its charms, it was such a slow read. I kept thinking it would pick up and it didn't.

Mixed feelings, Jeeves. Mixed feelings.

Some of which, I will detail below:

- Precious Ramotswe, "the first lady detective in Botswana," is a unique female protagonist whom I quite liked. She's matter-of-fact and observant and assertive, an interesting mix of stern and good-natured. Plus, she's middle aged and not considered particularly attractive and just, in general, NOT A STEREOTYPICAL HEROINE. #diversity #diversity is good #i am pleased

- I enjoyed following the mysteries she solved, for the most part; but I thought the final mystery [with the witch doctors], which was SUPPOSED to be climactic & exciting, kinda fell flat a bit? I don't know.

- The scenery. The scenery's really nice. I especially appreciated all the descriptions of the cattle country, and the dusty, dry heat.

- There was ... no development ... for the romance, and that irked me. Precious Ramotswe had an abusive husband when she was young, so she spends the whole book saying "I'm not going to get married again, I'm not interested in sex or romance." Which makes sense, & is perfectly understandable. But her best friend in the town WANTS to marry her. Midway through the book, Best Friend proposes and is promptly turned down. Another guy also proposes to Precious and is immediately shot down. Then, in the final scene, Best Friend proposes once more and Precious instantly says "yes" ... with literally zero explanation as to how or why her resolution has changed. I'm not kidding. Her internal monologue NEVER ADDRESSES any sort of evolutionary process in her feelings toward this guy, never shows her dealing with her traumatic memories of her first husband in order to feel "okay" with marrying again. Why not???? Isn't that, like, kind of Important, if we're supposed to be invested in her romance with this new fellow???

- Also: I have a bit (okay, more than a bit) of an issue with certain statements / judgments the narrative makes about gender and about Africa, given that it's actually written by a white British man who is NOT female nor African. *raises eyebrow*

3.75⭐️

This was different than I was expecting.

Mma Romotswe is the founder of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana.

The book looks at the things Mma Romotswe experienced to lead up to where she is right now, but also follows the regular cases that come across her desk (like a doctor who seems to have two personalities and a stolen car, and many other little stories in between)

Trigger warning for rape/sexual abuse