“Precious Ramotswe “ is Botswana‘s only female private investigator – the main character of the “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith.
I noticed a few years back that Ms Ramotswe and the author’s name were listed week after week on the SF & Bay area California paper back bestseller list. “Precious” just sort of kept catching my eye and I got curious. I discovered that the Botswana detective has a worldwide cult following.
The author was born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, practiced law in Scotland and when McCall returned to Zimbabwe, he began to write about a red bush tea drinking female private eye – “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”. In this, and the books that followed in the series, our lady sleuth tracks down wayward husbands, missing children and solves village mysteries all the while keeping to the traditions of her culture and maintaining the standards of both Queen Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela (she admires both).
BTW: Directed by the late Anthony Minghella, “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency “will soon come to an HBO screen near you. Produced for the BBC in 2008, “Precious” is played by singer Jill Scott. Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose and Idris Elba from “The Wire” are also in the cast. Should be fun!
Books in the series:
* 1998 .The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
* 2000 .Tears Of The Giraffe
* 2001 .Morality for Beautiful Girls
* 2002 .The Kalahari Typing School for Men
* 2004 .The Full Cupboard of Life
* 2004 .In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
* 2006 .Blue Shoes and Happiness
* 2007 .The Good Husband of Zebra Drive