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Saturday, October 3, 2015

Review: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book #1)

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Book #1)
Author:  Alexander McCall Smith 
Genre: Mystery
Publisher:  Recorded Books
Release Date:  November 21, 2003
Audiobook: 8 hours and 14 minutes
Narrator:  Lisette Lecat 
Source: Purchased from Audible.com

Book Description

The No.1 ladies' detective agency consists of one woman, the engaging and sassy Precious Ramotswe, who sets up shop in Gabarone, Botswana. This unlikely herione specialises in missing husbands, wayward daughters, con men and impostors.

Review

I remember when this book was made into a TV series for HBO a few years ago.  I wanted to read the book before watching the show but of course I never got to either one of them.  If my book club had not selected it for the book of the month I would have not picked it up.
Precious Ramotswe is a strong woman who started her own detective agency in Botswana after her husband leaves her and her father dies.  In the beginning no one thinks she will make a good living at it.  But slowly she gets clients who hire her to find out about their husbands, doctors and past employees.
This book is really fun and a nice book.  There are a few parts in the beginning that might me hard for some.  Basically, her husband was not a nice man at all.  But she overcomes that relationship.
I really like Precious and I would love to be friends with her in real life.  There are so many positive qualities about her that we (women) can learn from her.  Precious never depends on a man to make her dreams come true.   She knows she has to take her resources and make a living for herself.  This is a strong woman because the society she lives in doesn't think highly of women who do it their way.  You go Precious!  She makes me proud!
After reading this book, I can see myself visiting Botswana.  I know nothing of the country to be honest but I want to go so bad now.  The author painted a wonderful picture of the country and I have started drinking Red Bush Tea every so often.  :)  I had to try it since it was Precious Ramotswe's drink of choice.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was the quickness of some of here cases.  It felt like she got a case a solved it within 48 hours.  I would like to have seen something more in depth.  And I was not into the narrators voice that much.  I like Lisette Lecat voice but I can tell she was white and I was under the impression since the main character was black so would the narrator be.
But overall, it was a great book and I will like to read more books in this series.

Reviews by Other Bloggers

Recommendations

I recommend this book to older teen readers due to the subject matter of miscarriage, domestic abuse and rape. 

Challenges

This book is number 17 in my Diversity on the Shelf Reading Challenge
This book is number 20 in my New to Me Author Reading Challenge
This book is number 19 in my Audiobook Challenge
This book is number 4 in my Book by a Non-American Reading Challenge
This book is number 7 in my Book Set in Another Country Reading Challenge
This book is number in my 34 Goodreads Reading Challenge 
This book was Mocha Girls Read book of the Month
http://mochagirlsread.com

Other Books in the Series

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