Morality for Beautiful Girls and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Morality for Beautiful Girls
 
See larger image
 
Start reading Morality for Beautiful Girls on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Morality for Beautiful Girls [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Alexander McCall Smith , Lisette Lecar
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.99  
Hardcover, Large Print --  
Paperback £4.19  
Audio, CD, Abridged, Audiobook £11.98  
Audio, Cassette, Audiobook, April 2003 --  
Audio Download, Unabridged £9.44 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Download your favourite books to your ipod or mp3 player and save up to 80% on more than 40,000 titles at Audible.co.uk.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Audio Cassette
  • Publisher: Recorded Books (April 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1402541791
  • ISBN-13: 978-1402541797
  • Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 15.3 x 6.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Alexander McCall Smith
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Alexander McCall Smith Page

Product Description

Stephen McGinty, The Sunday Times

Forget the library - the body is in the mud hut. An African Marple created by a Scottish law lecturer. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Anthony Daniels, The Sunday Telegraph

This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(12)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 


 

Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous Problems Beset Precious and Her Fiancé!, 19 Jun 2004
By 
Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   
Morality for Beautiful Girls is the third novel in the series about Precious Ramotswe and her detective agency in Botswana, and covers the period of one month after the events in Tears of the Giraffe. Be sure to read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Tears of the Giraffe before this book, or you will probably think this story is a three star effort. Many reviews describe these books as mysteries . . . but they are really novels about a woman who sometimes solves problems for people. Since the first book, the "mysteries" have not been very mysterious, and the appeal of the books lies far apart from the mysteries.

In Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexander McCall Smith takes a thorough look at the pros and cons of the old communal values found in Botswana's villages compared to the new morality of the urbanizing young in that country. In the process, Mr. Smith makes a powerful case for grafting onto the old values an appreciation for ingenuity, education, effort, organization and courage while dismissing most of the new morality as misinformed at best, and harmful at worst. In so doing, he eloquently describes the potential benefits of a matriarchic society led by determined, talented women who break down traditional boundaries that limit both men and women.

As the story opens, Precious realizes that her concept of helping all those who need her help, regardless of ability to pay, is going to leave the detective agency in perpetual financial trouble. Having agreed to marry Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, who runs a prosperous car repair business, Precious looks at ways to reduce her costs by sharing their resources. Her conclusion: She should move the detective agency to the garage, share Mma Makutsi's time and salary with the garage, and rent out the building she has been using for the agency. All seems to be off to a good start when Mr Matekoni begins acting strangely. With her burgeoning responsibilities and plans, Precious has just too much to do. So she delegates as many items on her "to do" list as possible to others, and gets going on what only she can do. It's like reading a lesson in time management.

During the course of the story, you will meet another unusual youngster who ends up at the orphanage. Precious is caught up in a case of potential poisoning at the behest of a powerful government official who is also a wealthy and well-connected tribal member. Although Precious doesn't want to take on the case, the official and Mma Makutsi bully her into it. While she's away on the case, Mma Makutsi proves to have even more talents than anyone could have expected from either her degree or her experience. In the process, she brings in a major case which she solves on her own involving four potential beauty contest winners.

In the first half of the book, the distress that Precious and Mr J.L.B. Matekoni are experiencing is so palpable that I found myself feeling more and more upset as I read the story. Seldom does "light" fiction affect me that way. I can only ascribe the intensity of my reactions to the quality of the writing and the exceptional care with which the characters have been developed into people for whom anyone would feel great sympathy and empathy. The book ends up leaving some mysteries unsolved, and I found myself wishing that I had a copy of the next book with me so that I could read what happened right away.

As I finished the story, I found myself wondering more about Botswana and why people love it there so much. I recently began working with a businessman in Botswana, and he has promised to help me understand more about that intriguing country. I look forward to being his student in this, as I have enjoyed being a reader of these fine novels.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes it is good to know when to stop!, 4 Nov 2003
By 
J. Lennox "jlennox" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have read three of the Ladies Detective Agency books now and I felt a bit disappointed after this one. I loved the first book in the series and enjoyed tears of a giraffe, but I thought this book was a bit predictable and did not have quite enough mystery and plot to keep it going at an acceptable pace.

It is not a bad book, but if you are considering buying this series of novels i'd say buy the other two i mentioned before this one.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Still Number one for Botswana's best detective agency, 2 Dec 2001
You have to read number one Ladies Detective Agency and then Tears of the Giraffe to get the best out of this cracking book. Morality for Beautiful Girls is a bitter-sweet read that keeps you engaged throughout. This time, while the excellent and enormous central character Precious Ramotswe continues to bloom in her idiosyncratic way, other well-drawn people come to the fore, not least her deputy, her newly extended family and Mr JL Matekoni. Of course, Botswana itself carries on being almost a tangible character. The universal wisdom, gentle humour and tinges of sadness make this a book that you will finish all too soon.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
 Go to Amazon.com to see all 113 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars 
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback