THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY by ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH.
Meet Mma Ramotswe, the endearing, engaging, simply irresistible proprietress of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the first and only detective agency in Botswana. With persistent observation, gentle intuition, and a keen desire to help people with the problems of their lives, she solves mysteries great and small for friends and strangers alike.
- GoodReads Blurb
SOURCE ... A library book. (Apologies, Doh! I returned the book before making note of either the First Sentence or my Memorable moment. TT)
READ FOR A CHALLENGE? ... No.
MY THOUGHTS ... Whilst I have dipped into the series over the years (though not since I started Pen and Paper), I had yet to read this, the first book, in the series. Would I change my mind having begun at the beginning?
Do you know its funny but what actually brought the books (and in particular the characters) to life for me was actually NOT the reading of this book but two recent Radio 4 dramatisations.* But I digress ...
Ironic when its probably the very thing that makes the series so easy to dip in and out of BUT perhaps the main problem for me is that this reads less like a novel and more likely a series of incidents. A series of 'mysteries' (I use the term loosely) to be solved; mysteries that alas, with little common thread to hold them together and, having been resolved more by chance than any real detective work, over all too quickly, I found unsatisfying.
But what of the characters?
Mmm! I find myself vying between finding Mma Ramotswe quite the feminist AND a bit of a cliche.{Sharp intake of breath} Dare I suggest I found the writing of her a bit, well, patronising?
Convinced more than ever that this isn't a series for me, there just isn't enough to get my teeth into so to speak.
* Where/whilst available listen to here and here .
