The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Unasked for Review

 

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith is a fun read set in Botswana, Africa. The book takes place in 1993. The main character, Mma Precious Ramotswe was born in 1958 and is 35 when the book primarily takes place. This is important because this was a time before cell phones, unless they were huge, ponderous monstrosities. This was also the very early days of DNA. It was not widespread in the US, and certainly wasn’t prevalent throughout the world yet. It’s important to remember this when reading the book.

I really like the character of Mma Ramotswe, who is clever, resourceful, caring, and brave.  I love how she decided that she wanted to be a detective, though she had no formal training in forensic pathology, or criminal justice. She has a drive to help others and a practicality and lack of fear that enables her to become a detective. Precious can resolve most issues without involving the police. She’s really good with language; able to diffuse perilous situations with well worded comments. The culture of Botswana is also explored, showing a very down to earth practicality in most of the characters which is refreshing to read.  There’s a lot of clever uses of language and phrasing. Most of the cases that Mma Ramotswe gets are ordinary small mysteries, though there is one large overarching case; but the writer is able to make them engaging and interesting. Mma Ramotswe does occasionally make some faux pas and mistakes, but I like how it shows her humanity and fallibility.

The writer does a good job with this book, interweaving the past and present throughout the story, and really telling good human stories. The observations he makes between men and women are also very amusing.

Overall, I rate this book an 8 out of 10, and am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.  Until my next unasked for review!