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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781400034772 
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Powells.com Staff Pick
A 'cozy' set in Africa. This is the first in a wonderful new mystery series set in Botswana. Using deceptively simple language that nonetheless sings with the rhythms of Africa, the author introduces us to the indomitable lady detective, Precious Ramotswe. You will come to love her and the land she lives in. Kathi, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith's widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to "help people with problems in their lives." Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency received two Booker Judges' Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the "Times Literary Supplement,"
Review:
"One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years." The Plain Dealer
Review:
"In the course of her work, Mma Ramotswe offers ample evidence of her country's complexities and contradictions....Practical yet softhearted, inventive yet steeped in convention, Mma Ramotswe is an appealing personality..." Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review
Review:
"The most entertaining read of the year." The Guardian (London)
About the Author
Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law at Edinburgh University. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is the author of over fifty books on a wide range of subjects, including specialist titles such as Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, children's books such as The Perfect Hamburger, and a collection of stories called Portuguese Irregular Verbs.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
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Judith Brink, January 9, 2008 (view all comments by Judith Brink)
What a please to read such a lovely book. Mma Ramotswe is a lovable character as are the others that she meets along the way, simple open and honest characters. I loved this book from start to finish, I can't wait to read more of these books.
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Reina, February 26, 2007 (view all comments by Reina)
This series is fantastic. Precious is someone you want to know, someone to turn to in good or unhappy times. Reading these books helps me keep a grounded perspective about life as well as entertaining and amusing me.
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ody33ey, October 2, 2006 (view all comments by ody33ey)
Who can believe there are characters with plain, simple wisdom anymore? Thank you Alexander McCall Smith for giving us Precious. Perhaps this character could only exist in Africa. She says that she would never take a pill that would make her an American. And she just gets smarter from there.
In Botswana where there are thorn trees everywhere
Mma Ramotswe uses her knowledge about people, her honesty and her keen observation to solve people's problems.
She is clear about snake danger, but she adapts her strategies to cope with them as part of the landscape - the same as she does for the snakes of humanity.
The unfolding of the chapters has an underlying continuity in building the main characters, but there is a charm in having small, contained stories, that do not tax. Precious goes down so easy. However, the perpetrators in Africa can be of a different stripe than the ones Westerners usually meet; Mma Ramotswe is qualified.
The language seems ordinary enough, like everyday conversation, yet there is a resolution of thought not commonly found in mystery fiction. And yes, some of it made me laugh out loud.
Also, I want to thank Alexander McCall Smith for giving me a new character, other than that grimly sinuous, ambiguously human creation, seemingly ineradicable, from Tolkein, with the name Precious. Precious Ramotswe. Precious, I'd love to sit on your verandah for an afternoon bush tea.
View all 4 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781400034772
- Manufactured:
- Anchor
- Publisher:
- Anchor Books
- Author:
- Author:
- Location:
- New York, NY
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths
- Subject:
- Botswana
- Copyright:
- 2002
- Edition Description:
- Anchor Books
- Series Volume:
- 108-148
- Publication Date:
- February 2003
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 240
- Dimensions:
- 7.90x5.34x.68 in. .58 lbs.
