Hello, my bookworm friends! Oh, these gray days are perfect for beautifully illustrated books. This is another book review for the Literary Voyage Around the World Reading challenge. It is also a book I am using for March Mystery Madness, a BookTube reading challenge for the month of March. So for the month of March you are to read mysteries and they challenge you to read a book for each of the following categories:

1. SHELF 2. BORROW 3. NEW 4. HISTORICAL 5. FOREIGN 6. OPPOSITE

You can interpret these words any way you would like. For instance, the word SHELF could be a book off of your shelf etc. I might use this book for FOREIGN since it is set in Botswana.

Title: The No. 1 Ladies Detetive Agency (Book #1)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Copyright: February 18, 2003
Genre: fiction
Format: audiobook Narrator: Lisette Lecat
Duration: 08:11:14

“Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course.” p. 3

Summary (from Goodreads):

Mma “Precious” Ramotswe sets up a detective agency in Botswana on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, making her the only female detective in the country. At first, cases are hard to come by. But eventually, troubled people come to Precious with a variety of concerns. Potentially philandering husbands, seemingly schizophrenic doctors, and a missing boy who may have been killed by witch doctors all compel Precious to roam about in her tiny van, searching for clues.

About the Author (Genevieve Cogman):

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland.

Botswana flag

My Thoughts:

For many years now I have collected books in this series as I come across them at thrift shops. The covers always struck me a beautiful. So what better time for an audiobook than when you catch the flu. Yup, you heard it right, I was brought down by the flu. So I downloaded it off of Hoopla and let the story unfold.

I also chose this book because it fulfills the Mystery March Book challenge and the Literary Voyage Around the World.

I truly enjoyed listening to Mma Ramostwe’s story and how she became a lady detective. There were several cases that she tended to in the book and I appreciated being able to learn a little more each time about life in Botswana. Even though the stories are fiction, these types of cases to occur so it allowed the reader to see some of the struggles that society has to deal with in Botswana.

“I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place. They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve the mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do.” Mma Ramotswe, p. 4

Rather than follow tradition Mma Ramotswe feels compelled to help her people and despite the obstacles for women in this profession, she pursues it with gusto.

I really look forward to reading book two and will be sure to come back with another review.

Overall I enjoyed the story of Mma Ramotswe and the variety of cases she solved. The audiobook was delightful and although I wasn’t feeling well, this book was a welcome distraction. For these reasons, I would give this book 4 butterflies.

Happy reading!

Belinda