The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

A book review.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

by Alexander McCall Smith

published: 1998

ISBN: 9780349116754

genre: Fiction

reviewed:2017.08.03

👍🏼 recommended

This is one of the most enjoyable books I've read. It's about a woman who decides to set up a "detective agency" when she inherits some money. This distresses the parent leaving her the money when she makes the choice, but so be it.

The "cases", if you can call them that, are more like tales of home-spun wisdom, like using a ginned up "sacrifice" to determine whether a man claiming to be a long-lost father is really who he says. It starts to get more serious, however, when an eleven year old is snatched to serve as the sacrifice by a witch doctor.

The story weaves in the hard personal tale of the lady who founds the detective agency. A lousy marriage, a dead baby, and a will to do something for those who can't protect themselves. It also weaves in a bit of the setting - the times through which the country is developing, the expansion of the city, the beauty of the countryside. These touches ground the story.

The author has somehow found time to write some fifty books. After I'd read it I noticed that it was but the first of the series. I look forward to picking up the rest.