# Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency



## vickir (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi,

Just watched the DVDs of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Really enjoyed them.

Is anyone reading the series? Do you recommend?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Someone just recommended it in the April Book game thread.  I think I read it several years ago in paper...

Betsy


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

I bought the book when I was in South Africa and couldn't get into it.


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## dobes (Feb 22, 2010)

Read it a couple of years ago and loved it.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

The first book is only $1.59 right now, so it's pretty low risk to give it a try.


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## vickir (Jan 14, 2009)

Marianner, I like how you think!


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

I sampled it a while back and liked it well enough, but it was too pricey for my tastes. I bought it at the $1.59 price when it first went on sale last month, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  It's a very different style of writing than I'm used to, and it's one of those things where I have to be in the mood to read it.

I'm with Marianner on this one, at $1.59, it's about as low risk as you're going to get!


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

I haven't read the books, but we're working our way through the TV series. My husband and I both love it. We love the setting, the music, the photography, and the characters. The mysteries aren't complex (or particularly compelling) but that's not why we watch the show. We watch it to spend time in Botswana with some very charming people.
L.J.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I borrowed a paper copy my mom had. . . .didn't do anything for me. . . . .but that's me and you're not me.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

I read them all as DTBs and loved them.  No, nothing much happens in those books and the people that love them I think love them for that very reason.  I saw the author several years ago at the LA Bookfair, and he said the letters he got from fans said they wanted one thing:  more tea drinking!  
I didn't know the dvd's were out - those I HAVE to get!


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

I have read them a couple of times DTV, and just enjoyed the difference of thinking.  Didn't care for his other books tho.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

Really Dona?  I LOVED Portuguese Irregular Verbs!  Did you read that one?


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## chiffchaff (Dec 19, 2008)

I think the DVDs are very good - love the characters and the scenery.  I wish they'd made more episodes.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I read one of them awhile ago and enjoyed it - but it moved very slowly and I don't think I will read anymore of them.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I read the first one a few years ago and liked it, but the author has a quiet style with subtle humor. I'm reading his *44 Scotland Street* (different series) now and am not wildly enthused about it, because I'm not in the mindset for something so ordinary. He is a clever writer though. I also read one of his Isabel Dalhousie books. Enjoyed it, but it's very low key.

I loved the TV series about the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> I read them all as DTBs and loved them. No, nothing much happens in those books and the people that love them I think love them for that very reason. I saw the author several years ago at the LA Bookfair, and he said the letters he got from fans said they wanted one thing: more tea drinking!
> I didn't know the dvd's were out - those I HAVE to get!


This is me. I listened to the first on Audiobooks, and I have to say if you like audiobooks at all, the narrator is absolutely fantastic. Very good. I just love this series, and the Isabel Dalhousie series as well (haven't tried any others of his). I love that they're slow, and that little happens. I love that they drink tea. I love everything about them. It must take a certain type of person though, because I've heard "didn't grab me" from lots of others. Matter of fact, I'm visiting Botswana for my birthday this summer because after reading about it for the past 5 years I'm desperate to see it.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

chiffchaff said:


> I think the DVDs are very good - love the characters and the scenery. I wish they'd made more episodes.


The first installment was co-produced and co-directed by Anthony Minghella (writer/director of "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley," among others.) He died suddenly in 2008 shortly after completing the first series. Hopefully HBO will continue with it, though. Supposedly the production company signed a 10 year lease on the area where the detective agency itself is set, so they were obviously planning to do more. It's not clear if Minghella's death simply postponed or cancelled their plans altogether.


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I just finished it.  I bought it when it went on sale.  I think of these kinds of books and gentle reads.  Nothing is fast paced but it is sometimes exactly what I need at the moment.


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## vickir (Jan 14, 2009)

Loved the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

On the TV series, No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, someone wrote to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV person and asked if more are planned. He said not yet and he thinks it is unlikely.


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## welshcorgi (Dec 8, 2009)

Marguerite said:


> I just finished it. I bought it when it went on sale. I think of these kinds of books and gentle reads. Nothing is fast paced but it is sometimes exactly what I need at the moment.


I just finished this as my April assigned read in Geoffrey's Quasi Official Reading Club and found it quite enjoyable  I love the description of it as a "gentle read", fits this book to a "T"


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

Heard of the book, just never picked it up yet


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> Really Dona? I LOVED Portuguese Irregular Verbs! Did you read that one?


yes I did - still have the dtv, but did not like it at all


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

By sticking with 44 Scotland Street, I got into it and am almost finished.  I think it could be called social satire, about quirky but ordinary characters.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> Really Dona? I LOVED Portuguese Irregular Verbs! Did you read that one?





Anju No. 469 said:


> yes I did - still have the dtv, but did not like it at all


I think his different series appeal to different people. DH thinks the series beginning with _Portuguese Irregular Verbs_ is his best while it is my least favorite. I like the _Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency_ and Isabel Dalhousie series much better. I think _44 Scotland Street_ is OK.


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## karij123 (Dec 27, 2009)

I have all of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency books on audio and I absolutely love them.  We love to go to sleep with Lisette Lecarr (I'm sure I spelled it wrong) reading to us.

What I love about them the most is that I can listen to them with the kids and there's nothing inappropriate for them.  They love to hear what's going on in Ma Ramotswe's world.  I find them to be very calming and love how Alexander McCall Smith will write things from the viewpoint of Ma Ramotswe that is so typically female and it's coming from a man.  There is an exchange in the Full Cupboard of Life between Mma Ramotswe and the lady who owns the hair salons that kills me every time I hear it.  And I listen to these books over and over and over.

I can honestly say I have never found a more engaging series of books for me and cannot wait until the next one comes out.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Marguerite said:


> I think of these kinds of books and gentle reads. Nothing is fast paced but it is sometimes exactly what I need at the moment.


I like this description of the books. I read the books before seeing the show. Although the show follows the stories very closely, it doesn't look like I pictured it. Not the setting, the characters, none of it. I think of them as two separate entities and enjoy each of them for what they are.

I couldn't get into the 44 Scotland Street books but I did enjoy the Isabel Dalhousie house book that I read. I also read The Girl Who Married a Lion by Mccall Smith and enjoyed it very much. It contains several traditional African folk tales

I looked up the Ladies Detective Agency books after reading this thread and see that a new one is due to be released on 4/20 for 9.99; I pre-ordered.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

imallbs said:


> I looked up the Ladies Detective Agency books after reading this thread and see that a new one is due to be released on 4/20 for 9.99; I pre-ordered.


Really? Now there is a conundrum. I bought all my No. 1 Ladies books before I got m K2. I guess I'll get the new one as a DTB. when I saw Smith at the LA Bookfair several years ago, he said he was only going to do 7 in the series. Guess he changed his mind. Or his publisher.  I'm not complaining!


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Oh, I'm still going to buy the HC, but that's for lending.  I got 5 of my friends reading the series and feel obligated to support their habit.  Ya know, one of them still has my last book.  I wonder which one it is - not the book, the so-called friend who stole it.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

imallbs, I also recall him saying the first book never came out as a hardcover book.  You don't have a hardcover do you?  I wonder if a later edition of the first came out in HC.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

My 1st three are trade paperbacks. I found a HC on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/No-Ladies-Detective-Agency/dp/0375423877/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0


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## liannallama (May 29, 2009)

I just finished the first book and I really liked it!  I recommended it to my mom--I think she would like it too.


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## PraiseGod13 (Oct 27, 2008)

When I first started reading this series it didn't take me long to realize that it's totally unlike anything else I have ever read..... but there is such a gentleness and simplistic beauty in these books that I have totally enjoyed every one of them.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

Yesterday I asked at Blockbuster if they had the dvds.  Nope.
Today at Costco, I was looking for it, almost gave up, and then there it was!  DH is so sweet - didn't blink an eye as I slid in into the cart!
The box says Complete First Series - are there plans for more shows?


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## vickir (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi Carol,

Someone wrote the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV person and asked that question. He said they were going to do a second season, but that was put on hold. He doesn't think so now.

I understand from someone else who posted earlier in the thread that the producer died.


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## JimCrigler (Aug 8, 2011)

This delightful book details the investigations of, Precious Romatswe, a large woman in a peaceful corner of Africa. It explains how she got to where she is through past narrative interspersed with her current cases. One large, important case overshadows the rest, and she solves it through a combination of persistence, a natural inquisitiveness, experience of being mistreated, and a fundamental understanding of human nature.

This is the first book in a series; I hope to get to its successors one day.

5 stars.


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## Jenni Norris (Oct 10, 2012)

I have read most of the series. He is so prolific though - has anyone else noticed just how many books he has published in a relatively short space of time? I wonder if he had them all stored up and ready to go, or if he writes 24/7? It is almost off-putting. 

The Ladies Detective Agency books are excellent though, like a nice little cake, to be devoured and enjoyed in a short space of time. I tend to read them in one sitting. They are funny and wise and witty at the same time, and also quite sad due to some of the storylines about poverty and oppression. 

As for his other works...for some reason, I can't get into them even though I know they are well written. He is an intriguing man and I am now going to do some internet research about him as I feel I don't know enough about him!


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

L.J. Sellers said:


> I haven't read the books, but we're working our way through the TV series. My husband and I both love it. We love the setting, the music, the photography, and the characters. The mysteries aren't complex (or particularly compelling) but that's not why we watch the show. We watch it to spend time in Botswana with some very charming people.
> L.J.


That's what I like about the books - there's such a love for the country in them, and for me there's a certain charm and rhythm to the books. Not everyone agrees though.

They're also in the Overdrive library, so local libraries may well have them available for Kindle.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> Yesterday I asked at Blockbuster if they had the dvds. Nope.
> Today at Costco, I was looking for it, almost gave up, and then there it was! DH is so sweet - didn't blink an eye as I slid in into the cart!
> The box says Complete First Series - are there plans for more shows?


No, unfortunately HBO only made one season.


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## billie hinton (Jan 30, 2011)

This series has been on my list to check out for a long time. I had no idea there was a TV series - now need to check that out too!


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

PraiseGod13 said:


> When I first started reading this series it didn't take me long to realize that it's totally unlike anything else I have ever read..... but there is such a gentleness and simplistic beauty in these books that I have totally enjoyed every one of them.


I agree. It's really a delightful series, and I don't use that word often. I feel uplifted after reading one of these books. Plus, they're quick, easy reads, with a writing style so clean and breezy, that one would think writing were the easiest thing to do in the world. Which, of course, isn't true, and as such is a testament to the author's talent.


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

Any links to the tv series or info on cast etc.?


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

LDB said:


> Any links to the tv series or info on cast etc.?


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1356380/


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