Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Published: 1998
256 pages
Setting: Botswana, Africa
Precious Ramotswe is Botswana's best (and only) lady detective. She serves the people of her hometown and solves their puzzles, uncovers con-men, and locates missing children, all while sipping red bush tea and enjoying the simple things in life. She has seen her share of heartache and happiness, and is at peace with life as it has turned out. But is running Botswana's finest female detective agency enough to satisfy, or will life offer more?
Elements of (cozy) Mystery Books:
Amateur Detective (usually female): Mma Ramotswe investigates, but solve crimes more by intuition and knowledge of human nature.
Body is offstage: There are no explicit descriptions of any of the crimes, even though one suspected crime would be truly grisly if it were described.
Strong sense of place: The story relies more on the sense of being in Africa, rather than descriptions of procedures or clue-finding.
Read-alikes:
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra byVaseem Khan
Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill
Personal critique: As much as I enjoyed this book, I don't know that it would be my first suggestion for a reader looking for a mystery series, even a cozy series, unless they were also a great gentle reads fan. It is rather heavy on the cozy but light on the mystery. It also doesn't follow the conventional mystery blueprint: body, clues, another body, more clues and surprising revelation. There isn't really any murder or clue-finding in it. But something about it is very enjoyable, nonetheless, even by a serious Agatha Christie devotee.
I totally agree with you on your critique! While I enjoyed this book, it was more of a leisurely gentle read that showed the warmth and vibrancy of its setting and characters, but I did not find it a very compelling mystery (even a cozy one).
ReplyDeleteExcellent annotation and I enjoyed the personal critique. Full points!
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