Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Published: 2008
Genre: Fiction
This was a joy to read, and I wonder why it has taken me so long to read the Ladies' Detective Agency series. This debut to the immensely popular series is fast-paced and funny- and for a Southern African, the writing style and vocabulary were elements I could completely relate to. McCall Smith writes in a vernacular form which made my enjoyment of the book much richer.
Mma Ramotswe the heroine of the series is an energetic Motswana woman who decides to open a detective agency with the money left to her by her recently deceased father. She goes against what would have been a perfectly 'safe' business such a butchery or bottle store and instead puts her money into Botswana's first and only Ladies' Detective Agency. McCall Smith gives a brief background in the early chapters of the first book in his series to Mma Ramotswe's background. He introduces the colourful characters that make up the various cases in separate chapters and he does so without disrupting the rhythm of the book.
It is clear in the nuanced references to language and culture that McCall Smith lived in Botswana. Starting with Mma Ramotswe; the use of the simple suffix, Mma, whose omission would have lost the authenticity had she been referred to simply as Precious Ramotswe throughout the book. Similarly, he uses Rra, the suffix use for men as a sign of respect.
His descriptions of his settings are accurate - his take on the ubiquitous butchery or bottle store, to be found in Botswana and many other Southern African countries; the descriptions of the landscapes with their the heat and dust; and the reference to ownership of Mercedes Benz cars as a sign of wealth all had me chuckling because of their accuracy.
I will be reading more of McCall Smith's books, now that I have discovered what it is the world has been raving about.
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