The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency [Paperback]

The authors prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. His descriptions leave one as if standing in the Botswanan landscape. This is art that conceals art. I havent read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The author's prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Highly amusing, intelligent and heart-warming --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Why is this novel so good?…It is almost impossible to pin down such an inspired invention. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Practical, non-judgemental, filled with laughter but determination, Precious never quails....I loved every word. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency received two Booker Judges’ Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.

The one where it all begins

Mma Ramotswe is the proud proprieter of the finest ladies' detective agency in all Botswana (also the only one). She spends her time, with a cup of redbush tea beneath the acacia tree, waiting for clients. When they come along, whether it is to enquire after a missing spouse or check the identity of a long-lost father, it is not The Principles of Private Detection that helps her to solve cases but old-fashioned common sense and a warm-hearted understanding of the fallibility of human nature -especially that of men.

'Jolly and exhilarating' Sunday Telegraph

'Delightful' Sunday Times

Discover the world of Alexander McCall Smith and his other books at alexandermccallsmith.co.uk

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--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

ALEXANDER McCALLL SMITH has a double existence. He is a Professor of Medical Law, but also an author who has now written over fifty books on a wide range of subjects. These range from specialist titles such as 'Forensic Aspects of Sleep' (the only book on the subject) to 'The Criminal Law of Botswana' (also the only book on the subject) and from the widely translated 'The Perfect Hamburger' (a children's novel) to 'Portuguese Irregular Verbs' (a collection of stories about eccentric German professors). His collection of African stories, 'Children of Wax', received critical acclaim and has been the subject of an award-winning film. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe - the only lady private detective in Botswana - brewed redbush tea. And three mugs - one for herself, one for her secretary, and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course.

But there was also the view, which again could appear on no inventory. How could any such list describe what one saw when one looked out from Mma Ramotswe's door? To the front, an acacia tree, the thorn tree which dots the wide edges of the Kalahari; the great white thorns, a warning; the olive-grey leaves, by contrast so delicate. In its branches, in the late afternoon, or in the cool of the early morning, one might see a Go-Away Bird, or hear it, rather. And beyond the acacia, over the dusty road, the roofs of the town under a cover of trees and scrub bush; on the horizon, in a blue shimmer of heat, the hills, like improbable, overgrown termite-mounds.

Everybody called her Mma Ramotswe, although if people had wanted to be formal, they would have addresses her as Mma Mma Ramotswe. This is the right thing for a person of stature, but which she had never used of herself. So it was always Mma Ramotswe, rather than Precious Ramotswe, a name which very few people employed.

She was a good detective, and a good woman. A good woman in a good country, one might say. She loved her country, Botswana, which is a place of peace, and she loved Africa, for all its trials. I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot, said Mma Ramotswe. I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place. They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.