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Loading... The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agencyby Alexander McCall SmithSeries: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1)
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. A really cute story! It takes place in Africa (Botswana). The main character, Mma Rotswane is funny & very likeable! I am already reading the 2nd book in the series! I found myself laughing out loud a few times. Loved it! (  ) Ames3473 | Nov 28, 2009 |  Really enjoyed this. The first chapter was a classic Agatha Christie-style mystery, but since then the author has turned back to clock to introduce us to Mma Ramotswe's father and childhood in Botswana. An unconventional start to a typical detective story, but then again, Mma Ramotswe is an unconventional detective.The larger mystery arc is a bit dark, but provides a nice contrast to the more frivolous cases. And McCall Smith does a wonderful job of providing glimpses of everyday life in Botswana.Great experience as an audiobook; Lisette Lecat is a fantastic narrator. I'll read the next book in the series the "old fashioned" way, though, just to compare. I hope the humor and poignancy come across on the page as well as they do in Lecat's narration. (  ) catalogthis | Nov 24, 2009 | 2007  katiemertz | Nov 20, 2009 | I always enjoy books that expose me to different cultures, and this was no exception. It's an easy read with light content, and I look forward to reading more of the series. ( ) Blakelyn | Oct 6, 2009 | Having seen so many favorable mentions of this series I thought I would give it a try. While I can see why it is often put in the mystery/detective genre, if I had read this book without any other information (no blurbs, reviews, etc.) than the text, I should very likely have classed it as a mainstream novel rather than a mystery even though Mma Ramotswe does solve several puzzles brought to her by clients in the course of the narrative. Even so, it was an engrossing book with wonderful descriptions of life in Botswana and a remarkable main character in Mma Ramotswe. I will very likely track down the second book in the series before long and read it as well. hailelib | Sep 27, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle. If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases.
But the edge of the Kalahari is not St. Mary Mead, and the sign Precious orders, painted in brilliant colors, is anything but discreet. Pointing in the direction of the small building she had purchased to house her new business, it reads "THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES. UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT."
The solutions she comes up with, whether in the case of the clinic doctor with two quite different personalities (depending on the day of the week), or the man who had joined a Christian sect and seemingly vanished, or the kidnapped boy whose bones may or may not be those in a witch doctor's magic kit, are all sensible, logical, and satisfying. Smith's gently ironic tone is full of good humor towards his lively, intelligent heroine and towards her fellow Africans, who live their lives with dignity and with cautious acceptance of the confusions to which the world submits them. Precious Ramotswe is a remarkable creation, and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency well deserves the praise it received from London's Times Literary Supplement. I look forward with great eagerness to the upcoming books featuring the memorable Miss Ramotswe, Tears of the Giraffe and Morality for Beautiful Girls, soon to be available in the U.S. --Otto Penzler
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)
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