The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Book)

by Alexander McCall Smith

I kept hearing all sorts of great things about “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”, and since my wife already had a copy I thought I would give it a try.
“The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” is about a middle aged African woman, Precious Ramotswe, who decides to go into business for herself as a private detective. She funds the operation by selling off the cattle left to her by her late father. Her fathers’ plan was to have her start her own business upon his death but he had hoped that she would enter into an area a little more proven; like opening a store or a butcher shop. Precious has no experience as a private detective, but she figures that with a little common sense and a good book to guide her she should have no problem with her new business.

The business starts out slow which leads her to worry that becoming a private detective may have been a mistake, but soon things pick up and she’s dealing with all sorts of different clients and cases.

This is an interesting yet totally different type of book. The cases handled by Precious are pretty basic; there is no great intrigue or complicated plot going on here, yet it was a really fun book to read. Most of the entertainment comes from the description and images of Africa that are conveyed to us throughout the book. Thorough the eyes of Precious, we get a pretty good idea of the day to day life of a women in Africa and get a clear picture of both the good and the bad aspects of African culture.

The protagonist Precious is a wonderful character. She is a fat black African woman, with a wonderful innocence and love of life that’s infectious. She worships her late father, who was the major influence in her life, and she loves the land in which she grew up. She goes through life with a self-confidence that was instilled in her through her adoring father and just wants to do the right thing.

I think the best word to describe this book is “quaint”. The book reads with the simplicity of a child’s book but the story goes far beyond that.

I would have like to have seen a slightly more complex plot along the way. Most of the cases are introduced and resolved within a single chapter and the two cases that have the potential to become more involved turn out not to be as complicated as they initially appear. Since this is the first book in the series, and is mainly an introduction to the character and her world, I’m betting that the plots will become more involved as time goes on.

One other minor quibble is that I would have been nice if the book included a pronunciation guide. There were a handful of terms that were pretty much unpronounceable using standard English rules so a little phonetic pronunciation guide would have really helped. For example, how do you pronounce “Mma”?

Even with these minor problems, I highly recommend this book. It’s a lot of fun, unlike any other mystery that you’ve ever read and a good way to spend an afternoon.

I’m really amazed that Hollywood hasn’t grabbed the rights to this yet; with a little work it would make a great TV series or movie.

8 out of 10 Stars

Posted by Al on 01/11/10 at 06:13 PM in Books