"American publishers were slow to take an interest, and by the time The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, was a surprise hit, receiving two special Booker citations and a place on the Times Literary Supplement's International Books of the Year and the Millennium list." The UK success did not speed publishers to release it in the USA. In an item from the Wisconsin Public Radio program, To the Best of Our Knowledge, the first novel " The No. In their review of the first novel in the series, Kirkus Reviews notes that "The first American publication of this 1999 debut has been preceded by two special Booker citations and two sequels, Tears of the Giraffe (2000) and Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001), both forthcoming in the series." The first three novels appeared in 2002 in the USA. Per Kirkus Reviews, the early novels in this series had their American publication later than in the UK, which published the first in 1998, the second in 2000, and the third, Morality for Beautiful Girls, in 2001. The initial books were published in Scotland. The readership was at first small, then gained abruptly in popularity in the US and in England, beyond the author's home in Scotland. There are occasional forays into neighbouring nations.Īfter her first few cases, she purchases a book by Clovis Andersen on detection, The Principles of Private Detection, and then quotes from it throughout the novels when a guide is needed for deciding next steps. The cases are set in the cities of Botswana, mainly on the edge of the Kalahari desert, rather than in the desert.
Matekoni, who has taken on foster care of a sister and brother from the orphan farm. Her joy is her engagement and eventual marriage to Mr J. This led her to decide never to marry again after he left her. Her personal life has a main sorrow, that her only child lived just a few days, as the child's father beat her during the pregnancy, a story told in retrospect. She solves a case for herself when she thinks she must seek a divorce from her first husband but learns differently when she seeks out his mother. She uncovers a scheme by twin brothers to use one medical degree and certificate between the two of them. She helps a man atone for the sins of his youth by finding the people he hurt decades earlier. Mma Precious Ramotswe solves cases for wives whose husbands have gone missing, for a school teacher whose son has disappeared by finding the kidnappers, for a wealthy father whose 16-year-old daughter is frustrating him by going out on her own. This is one of the most common forms of address in the novels. Mma is a Setswana term of respect for a woman the equivalent term for a man is Rra. The main detective, Mma Ramotswe, is a Motswana woman who is the protagonist in the series and whose story is told in the first novel from birth to opening the detective agency. The novels have been adapted for radio by the author and for television. Critical reception has matched the sales of the novels, generally positive, and considering the strength of the novels to be in the characters and Mma Ramotswe's wisdom rather than in the specific mysteries solved in each novel. In 2004, sales in English exceeded five million, and the series has been translated to other languages. Each book in the series follows from the previous book.
The novels are as much about the adventures and foibles of different characters as they are about solving mysteries.
She feels a detective needs to know about people more than anything to solve problems for them. Mma Ramotswe starts up her detective agency using the inheritance from her father to move to the capital city, Gaborone, to buy a house for herself and an office for her new business. The country of Botswana is in a sense a character as well, as it figures prominently in the stories. Mma Precious Ramotswe is the main character in this series. Twenty-two novels have been published in the series between 19. The series is named after the first novel, published in 1998. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana and featuring the character Mma Precious Ramotswe. For the television film and series, see The No. For the first book in the series, see The No.
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