Title: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Author: McCall Smith, Alexander
Published by: Abacus
Year: 2003
First published: Polygon (UK), 1998
Date reviewed: 03.04
ISBN: 0-349-11075-X

This is the first of Alexander McCall Smith’s books in this series, set in Botswana, in which he introduces his principal character Mma Precious Ramotswe. The book combines a fictional biography of Mma Ramotswe with a series of short-story style vignettes of cases she tackles, rather than adopting a more typical whodunnit format. Smith knows Africa at first hand, and the charm of the book lies in the warmth and sympathy with which he writes about his characters and the country. There is gentle humour too, along with hints of darker and more disturbing happenings which may point towards developments in later books.

A TV series is promised, apparently.