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Precious Ramotswe (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency)

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Alexander McCall Smith

One of the most unlikely but likable of private eyes, PRECIOUS RAMOTSWE is a fat, jolly young (she’s only 22 in the first novel) woman who sets up The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Gaborone, Botswana, thus becoming that emerging south African nation’s first female detective. Although there’s something downright cozy about the whole thing, what with its quirky, engaging cast and its on-going emphasis on their assorted domestic, romantic and emotional crises, it never devolves into frothy sap or cloying cuteness, and even a crank like me can find no other word for this series but “charming.”

And millions of fans seem to agree with me. The series is a global phenomenom, each new title rocketing up the bestselling charts, and spawning an entire industry unto itself that includes a BBC radio series, a popular HBO television adaptation starring American singer Jill Scott, a cookbook and now evidently a series of books aimed at young readers.

Although the self-taught sleuth is certainly a private detective, the books are a far cry from the mean streets of Chandler, Mosley, Hammett et al. Nor does she have much in common with her fellow sisters in the gumshoe game. Unlike many female eyes, Precious isn’t particularly well-educated, nor is she prone to soul-searching or jogging.

But that’s not to say she’s not smart — in fact, she’s blessed with a shrewd empathy and the sort of true grit and clear-eyed pragmatism that readers of more hard-boiled fare will instantly recognize, even if the oft-covered themes of domestic violence, understanding, compassion, forgiveness, restitution and domestic infidelity, and her genteel, folksy, homespun common sense approach to problem solving (often over a steaming cup of red bush tea) set her apart from the herd.

In fact, the precedent for this series may be not some hard-boiled — or even softly cozy — mystery series, but James Herriot’s All Thing Bright and Beautiful series of novels. And that’s meant entirely as a compliment.

Clever, patient and displaying tremendous gumption, Precious is a young “traditionally built” woman who serves as the novels’ main character and narrator, but the episodic tone of the novels revolves as much around the adventures and foibles of different colourful characters as irt does around the mysteries. Besides Mma Ramotswe, there’s her bookish, tightly wound secretary, Mma Grace Makutsi, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, the lovestruck mechanic and proprietor of the local Speedy Motors, Precious’ would-be suitor and eventual husband, who keeps her old clunker from falling apart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), taught law at the University of Botswana and is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including several works of non-fiction, as well as the popular Sunday Philosophy Club mysteries, but he’s best known for the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he plays a really mean bassoon.

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Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

 

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