The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - Book Review (21)

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The title: 'Miss Marple From Botwana' (by Alexander McCall Smith) isn‘t short or snappy. It indicates a slow-go, old-fashioned thriller. The blurbs on the back mention Botswana, a country which unto now hasn’t been on the world-wide map of thrillers. The main character is Mme Mma Precious Ramotswe, called Mma Ramotswe, a 35-year-old “traditionally built African lady, unlike these terrible, stick-like creatures one saw in the advertisements.“ On the first page, we learn that she runs a detective agency. In her opinion detective agencies rely on “human intuition and intelligence“, both of which Mma Ramotswe has in abundance. She compares herself to Miss Marple, especially when men tell her that a woman can’t be a detective. The first case is one of a false daddy, a man who claims to be a young woman’s long-lost father who has wriggled himself cleverly into her life and lets her slave away to fulfil his needs. She suspects that he’s an impostor trying to find a place for his remaining years. Mma Ramotswe clears this case up in no time by donning a nurse’s uniform, rushing to the old man and telling him that his ‘daughter‘ has had an accident and needs his blood for a transfusion. He breaks down at once. The false daddy leads elegantly to Mma Ramotswe’s real daddy with whose money she was able to open her detective agency. We read about Botswana, “There’s no other country in Africa that can hold its head up as we can. We have no political prisoners and never had any. We have democracy. We have been careful. The Bank of Botswana is full of money, from our diamonds. We owe nothing. But things were bad in the past“, etc. etc. Now, what’s this? Is this a thriller or a lecture about an African country? I don’t know much about Africa, but somehow this roundabout way of getting to the point appears quite African to me, meaning that it copies the way people tell each other stories in societies in which the oral tradition is still valued highly and people sit together telling each other stories. If one wants to enjoy this book one must get used to a different pace. What do you know about Botswana? Am I right in assuming that it’s next to nothing? Thought so, same with me. Because we know nothing; we can’t be critical and have to believe the author. Who *is* the author? Can we trust him? (from the first page) “Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe and educated there and in Scotland. He’s Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and is a member of a number of national and international bodies concerned with bioethics . . . He has lectured at various universities in Africa, including Botswana, where he lived for a time.” When the story proper gets going, we’re not drawn into one complicated case which develops towards a climax and has its denouement at the end. We rather get various independent cases which are told one after the other: They all lead us into the Botswanian society, but deal with universal problems at the same time. They appear like pearls on a string, there could be more, there could be fewer. I wouldn’t have objected to some more stories. But no need to despair. There are already sequels featuring Mma Ramotswe. -------- The pic is the cover of the first book of the series. ===== If you're interested in my other book reviews, click on the green line at the top of the site (Malus Book Reviews)