***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
+ - Half-star
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
(The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Book 1)
Alexander McCall Smith
Anchor Books
Fiction, Mystery
****
DESCRIPTION: Precious Ramotswe, more often called Mma Ramotswe, is Botswana's first (and possibly only) female private detective. She solves cases big and small, for
her closest friends and her town's most prominent citizens.
REVIEW: In my experience, mysteries (especially modern mysteries) are more about the characters than the actual mystery. Smith evidently agrees with me, as this book is
primarily about getting to know Mma Ramotswe and her clients and friends. There are some mysteries, but the clever heroine solves most of them in a chapter or two; there is only
one that could be considered a "big" one, told without the convoluted twists that some mystery writers feel obligated to throw in. I found it entertaining and educational, not
having read many stories set in Africa.
You might also enjoy:
Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God (Guy Adams, Fiction - Holmes investigates a mysterious murder tied to the occult Order of the Golden Dawn)
Wish You Were Here (Rita Mae Brown, Fiction - A nosy postmistress and her pets investigate murders in her small town)
A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Fiction - An eccentric genius named Sherlock Holmes pursues a killer in 19th-century London)
The Sherlock Holmes collections (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Fiction - Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes)
The Familiar Dragon series (Daniel Hood, Fiction - An amateur detective inherits a murdered wizard's familiar)
The House of Silk (Anthony Horowitz, Fiction - An aging Dr. Watson writes of Sherlock's darkest, most controversial investigation)
The Ghosts of Belfast (Stuart Neville, Fiction - An ex-IRA hitman, released from prison, sets out to appease the ghosts of his victims)
felidae (Akif Pirinçci, Fiction - A tomcat discovers a murdered cat in the yard of his new home)
The Ruby in the Smoke (Philip Pullman, YA Fiction - An London girl stumbles into a deadly mystery while inquiring after her father's death)
Three Bags Full (Leonie Swann, Fiction - A flock of Irish sheep investigates the death of their shepherd)
The Crimson-Eyed Dragon (D. M. Trink, YA Fiction - A teen boy discovers secrets tied to a silver dragon statue from an antique store)
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
(2008 TV series DVD set)
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Tears of the Giraffe
(The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Book 2)
Alexander McCall Smith
Anchor Books
Fiction, Mystery
****
DESCRIPTION: Mma Ramotswe and her new fiancé, the honorable, clever mechanic Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, are still getting used to the idea of finding love so relatively late
in life. While they determine whose house to keep and other details, life, and business, go on. For Mma Ramotswe, that means more work at her detective agency, following wayward
wives and solving disappearances with ten years of dust on them. For Mr Matekoni, that means coaxing more work out of his lazy assistants, coaxing more life out of old
engines... and taking on responsibilities he never anticipated, after one too many visits to a nearby orphan farm.
REVIEW: Again, this isn't so much a mystery book as an exploration of modern-day Botswana and the colorful characters of Ramotswe's town. Unlike the first book, there
is one overarching "main" case, the matter of an American boy who vanished into thin air ten years ago, but even that plays like a backdrop to jealous maids, insecure husbands,
and other characters new and old.
You might also enjoy:
Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God (Guy Adams, Fiction - Holmes investigates a mysterious murder tied to the occult Order of the Golden Dawn)
Wish You Were Here (Rita Mae Brown, Fiction - A nosy postmistress and her pets investigate murders in her small town)
A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Fiction - An eccentric genius named Sherlock Holmes pursues a killer in 19th-century London)
The Sherlock Holmes collections (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Fiction - Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes)
The Familiar Dragon series (Daniel Hood, Fiction - An amateur detective inherits a murdered wizard's familiar)
The House of Silk (Anthony Horowitz, Fiction - An aging Dr. Watson writes of Sherlock's darkest, most controversial investigation)
The Ghosts of Belfast (Stuart Neville, Fiction - An ex-IRA hitman, released from prison, sets out to appease the ghosts of his victims)
felidae (Akif Pirinçci, Fiction - A tomcat discovers a murdered cat in the yard of his new home)
The Ruby in the Smoke (Philip Pullman, YA Fiction - An London girl stumbles into a deadly mystery while inquiring after her father's death)
Three Bags Full (Leonie Swann, Fiction - A flock of Irish sheep investigates the death of their shepherd)
The Crimson-Eyed Dragon (D. M. Trink, YA Fiction - A teen boy discovers secrets tied to a silver dragon statue from an antique store)
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
(2008 TV series DVD set)
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