| The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  407 reviews
Sales Rank: 7943
Media: Paperback
Edition: Today Show Book Club
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 235
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1400034779
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781400034772
ASIN: 1400034779
Publication Date: February 6, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ex-Library. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not really a mystery... May 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Take one heaping cup of African history, culture & lifestyle, add in a half a cup of basic wisdom, philosophy & elementary dialog , then mix it up with a scant eight cup of a little bit of mystery, and you have this novel. I finished it because it was interesting & fairly entertaining., but in no way was it a mystery. Doubt if i'll buy any more of the series.
Mma Ramotswe is Worthy and Wise and An Enjoyable Storyteller May 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you find yourself needing a little uplifting relaxation and a fun read, pick up a copy of Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, the first book in the overwhelmingly series. A perfect break from an overdose of too many noir crime novels!
The story tells how Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe struggles to get the only detective agency run by a woman in Botswana off the ground. Smith, a native of Zimbabwe, intermixes several story strands, including Mma Ramotswe's back story. She deftly solves mysteries large and small without violence or high-tech equipment. Smith uses the stories to take the reader to a little bit of southern Africa.
A very enjoyable read. Often compared to Agatha Christie with some justification, Mma Ramotswe is a worthy and wise fictional character in her own right. She narrates her own tales with a delightful light and commonsensical tone. Highly recommended.
Pleasant, quick, easy...and quite predictable May 9, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I appreciated this story because it was a quick read, easily comprehended, pleasant and entertaining. It was fun to watch Mma Ramotswa reasoning her way through her investigations as a rookie private investigator with no previous sleuthing experience. And given the apparent perceived gender inequalities in Botswana, she navigated the waters of gender prejudice quite well.
However, a couple aspects of the story were difficult for me to get past. My first hang-up was the predictability of her investigations. In most (but not all) of the cases that arrived at her agency, the apparent (and inevitably final) solution to the mystery was fairly clearly obvious before she ever got close to solving it. Most notably, the eventual solutions to the situation of Dr. Patel's daughter's activities, the case of the outstanding/inept doctor at the hospital, and the missing finger at the machine shop were quite obvious as soon as the complainant laid out the case to Mma Ramotswe.
Secondly, there were some unreal aspects to Mma Ramotswe's investigative activity that even a fictional novel could not allow for. For example, the surveillance activity conducted by Mma Ramotswe of her investigative suspects. As a single individual she was able to conduct effective surveillances of her subjects without ever "getting made," and only infrequently did she lose her subject. In real detective work, it can be exceptionally difficult to effectively follow the subject of an investigation with a single vehicle. Such a surveillance technique would typically result in losing the subject in heavy traffic, at stop lights, etc. Following a vehicle in lighter traffic runs the risk of discovery, effectively tipping-off the subject that they're being followed.
Finally, it's quite apparent that McCall-Smith is a big fan of Botswana, but I found the chapters and deviations devoted to Botswanan life, culture, etc, a bit distracting. I found myself wanting to get on through apparent reflections of African life and the author's musings of life in Botswana, to Mma Ramotswe's next life saving adventure.
I realize these are probably minor criticisms and shouldn't detract from the overall pleasantness of the story, but I personally had a hard time getting past them. That said, I would recommend this story if one is in the mood for a quick, simple and not particularly involved or complex group of short mysteries. I would also continue to the next books of the series.
 Nice read - well written May 6, 2008
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book 1)
Lovely read - no gimmicky stuff - just good old plain stories told from the perspective of Mma Ramotswe the Lady Detective.
Mind Candy April 30, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Like others who reviewed this book, I picked it up because it's been so popular. One sees it everywhere in bookstores. Also like others, I hesitated to buy it because the most popular novels are rarely that good. Unfortunately, that is the case here. First, it's not really a novel. It's a series of stories and vignettes strung together by the underlying theme of Precious Ramotswe who spends her legacy from her father by starting The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. In Africa no less, where patriarchy is the order of the day.
In many ways Mma Ramotswe is an interesting person and if any of the characters she meets were better developed, they would be interesting too. The dialogue is what sort of stops one in their tracks. Simple, childlike, pleasant, etc., and boring. That and the childlike people who make up most of the characters, make this book condescending and more of a children's book than an adult read. Some of the crimes are brutal and nasty -- like the boy who is snatched from a road at night -- but the perpetrators are by and large not punished or even revealed to authorities.
Almost worse than any of the foregoing, Mma Ramotswe is never wrong. She never makes a mistake. Even her little white van keeps running in spite of the roads she takes. (Plus it never has to be filled with gas.) I wanted to like this book and as I started reading I wanted to Like the main character. I just couldn't find any of it believable. Too bad. The premise is an interesting one. The locale could be wonderfully explored. It is a quick read, requiring little thought or contemplation, but reading old Agatha Christie mysteries is more fun.
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