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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2004, 208 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2005, 208 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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Comment: McCall Smith is back with another totally
soft-boiled mystery set in Botswana. In this episode Precious
Ramotswe, of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, is on the case again,
this time assisting the self-made founder of a chain of hairdressing
salons who wants to unearth the real intentions of her four suitors,
each possibly more interested in her money than her heart.
The chances are you're already familiar with
this series, but if you're not, I do encourage you to give it a try;
as Bill Ott, writing for Booklist says, 'The tremendous appeal of
this delightful series comes from the unique manner in which Smith
mixes the charm of both traditional and contemporary village cozies
(from Miss Marple to the Maggody novels) with a comical Runyonesque
formality of language and a grasp of human relations that is very
like Jane Austen (Mma Ramotswe, in fact, has a lot of Emma in
her)'.
The first book in the series - 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' was
published in the UK in 1998 but didn't arrive in the USA until 2001,
and unfortunately we're still lagging behind; this is the fifth in
the series. The 6th has already been released in the UK but
won't be released in the USA until April this year (see sidebar).
This review
first ran in the February 2, 2005
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