Thirty-five years old, Mma Ramotswe, has survived a bad marriage and her beloved father's death. Now she must find a way to support herself. She takes her inheritance money and sets up a small detective agency on her hometown of Gabarone, Botswana. It is a risky undertaking in a country where women are rarely professionals, but with her hard won wisdom and comfortable personality, she soon has a reputation as someone who "knows what's what." Her clients range for poor grocers to wealthy business owners, and she hardly ever disappoints.This is a book that was hugely popular when it came out in 2002 and now there are now more than 20 in the series. I think the charm of the book is Smith's great characterizations, and the authenticity of the setting. As you read the book, you feel that you could walk into a town in Botswana and the people you would meet and the things you would see would be just as Smith describes. Another appeal, I think, it that there is a strong feminist vibe going on in the book. Mma is strong and confident, though not a beauty or a super woman. More than one local man would love to marry her, but she is pretty convinced that men are the inferior sex, and she is better off without them. I enjoyed the book and I might read another, or might not. (231 p. 2002)
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