The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels

[grumpygirl]

I wanted to start this thread because I really enjoy these sweet books and wondered if there were any other fans. Read more about them.

Also, the movie is starting production in Botswana next week, so Mme. Ramotswe will be coming to a big screen near you soon.

If you're not familiar with these books and want a fast summer read with appealing characters and a fascinating setting, then get these books! I want to go to Botswana when we win the lottery because of these books! Here's a description of the first book:

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.

[smockery]

I really like these books, too, Grumpy Girl. I know that the mysteries aren't terribly mysterious, but you don't really mind that because the characters and setting are just so interesting. They make me want to visit Botswana as well.

How are you supposed to pronounce "Mme" by the way? Is it like mademoiselle? It is a question that has been bothering since I started reading them.

[grumpygirl]

smockery said:

I really like these books, too, Grumpy Girl. I know that the mysteries aren't terribly mysterious, but you don't really mind that because the characters and setting are just so interesting. They make me want to visit Botswana as well.

How are you supposed to pronounce "Mme" by the way? Is it like mademoiselle? It is a question that has been bothering since I started reading them.

It's short for Misses or Mother and it's pronounced "Maaa" but rolling the letters. Same with Rra, which is pronounced "Rahhh" with a rolled "r." I heard Alexander McCall Smith interviewed about it.

I really want to meet Mme Ramotswe and have bush tea at her office while her husband fixes my car and yells at the apprentices!

Oh, wait, Alexander McCall Smith answers in his Ask the Author section:

I am reading the third of your books about Precious Ramotswe, and I cannot figure out how to pronunciation the titles "Mma" and "Rra". Although I am only saying these words to myself, the debate between "umma" and "muma" and "erra" and "rura" in my head is growing bothersome. Would you be so kind to reveal the proper way to say them, so that I can pay proper respect to Mma Ramotswe, Mma Maktusi, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni?
--Norma

Dear Norma:
Mma Ramotswe and Mr J.L.B. Matekoni would both be very touched by your desire to show them proper respect! (They both send their regards, by the way). Mma is pronounced "mah" (that is, with a long a), and rra is similarly pronounced "rar". The double m and the double r slightly strengthen the mo and r sound, but only slightly. I hope that you enjoy the fourth book in due course!

Very best wishes,
Alexander McCall Smith

[smockery]

Thanks, Grumpy Girl. That was how I had been thinking it, but I wasn't sure that was correct since I had never heard them pronounced anywhere.

[tabby]

I adore these books. I just finished the most recent one, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, last week, and had a cup of bush tea as I read.

I know that the mysteries aren't terribly mysterious, but you don't really mind that because the characters and setting are just so interesting.

I agree. I find I really care about these characters and want good things to happen to them.

[grumpygirl]

tabby said:

I adore these books. I just finished the most recent one, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, last week, and had a cup of bush tea as I read.

I know that the mysteries aren't terribly mysterious, but you don't really mind that because the characters and setting are just so interesting.

I agree. I find I really care about these characters and want good things to happen to them.

Wait, when did this come out? How could I miss it?! I even get the newsletter from his fanclub. Waaahhh!!!

ETA: I just ordered it on Amazon and the latest Isabel Dalhousie book, too. Woot, some fun reading before Harry Potter comes out.

[raqs]

Oh! Mma Ramotswe has a Greecie fan club. Whee!

I agree the stories aren't particularly scary; I find them more anecdotal and charming.

[Deleted]

raqs said:

Oh! Mma Ramotswe has a Greecie fan club. Whee!

I agree the stories aren't particularly scary; I find them more anecdotal and charming.

I know! I always get the feeling that the author likes his nice characters and assumes the readers like them and so he takes good care of them.

We briefly had a book discussion group going at work and the first Mma Ramotswe book was our initial subject. Practically the whole hour was devoted to us taking turns talking about how much we loved Mma Ramotswe and wished she was a real person who lived next door to us! And made tea for us!

[grumpygirl]

I am signed up for the Alexander McCall Smith fanclub newsletter (SHUT UP) and just got an update. He's in Botswana now with his U.S. editor visiting the set of the movie. It sounds so beautiful and he is like a moth to fire when it comes to people. You can tell that he just eats up everything that they say. You can read the editor's diary entry here. It's interesting that the books aren't well known there and that they are just getting people interested in them because of the movie.

I want to visit Mme. Ramotswe and see Mms. Makutsi's blue shoes and visit her fiance's furniture shop and Mr. JLB Matekoni's garage and hear him yell at the apprentices. Then I'd go to the orphan Farm and be bribed to do something by a nice piece of cake from Potokwani. I also want to visit the house on Zebra Drive and see her adopted son and daughter. I LOVE the story about how Mr. JLB Matekoni ended up getting them when he went to the Orphan Farm.

Regarding how he likes the characters, from interview questions on the website:

"What happened is that I became so fond of the character that I could not let her go. To leave her where she was at the end of the first novel would have been rather like getting up and leaving the room in the middle of a conversation—rather rude."

[MrsCatHead]

I absolutely fell in love with these books a few years ago. I read them for the simple, descriptive language, the vividly written characters and the easy flow of the novels themselves. I just fall into them and read with a little contented smile on my face. I even got my husband reading them!

I'm very glad they are going to be in the deft hands of Minghella.