The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Mma Precious Ramotswe: The main character who runs a detective agency in Botswana.
• Obed Ramotswe: Precious Ramotswe's father who once worked as a miner in South Africa.
• Note Mokoti: A well known trumpet player. Former husband of Precious Ramotse
• Mma Grace Makutsi: Mma Ramotswe's secretary. Mma Ramotswe hired her unseen on recommendation of the Botswana secretarial college.
• Happy Bapetsi: One of the early clients of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
• Mr J. L. B. Matekoni: Owner of Speedy Motors, very much likes Mma Ramotswe.
• Mma Malatsi: One of the clients who hires Mma Ramotswe to find her husband.
• Mr. Paliwalar Sundigar Patel: A wealthy Indian man who hires Mma Ramotswe to follow his daughter and find out who her boyfriend is.
• Nandira: Mr. Patel's daughter, who is followed by Mma Ramotswe.
• Mr Charlie Gotso: One of the most influential men in Batswana.
• Jack: The boyfriend of Nandira Patel whom Mr. Patel had Mma Ramotswe follow.
• Alice Busang: A client of Mma Ramotswe's, who is the first that doesn't have to pay the fee.
• Clovis Andersen: Author of Mma Ramotswe's guide book.
• Mma Silvia Potokwane: Matron of the local orphanage and very good at keeping people to help her.
• Hector Lepodise: A factory owner that wants to marry Mma Ramotswe, and hires her for a case.
• Dr. Gulubane: Mma Ramotswe's neighbor on Zebra Drive. She goes to him for consultation on a found object.
• Mr Jameson Mopotswane: An attorney who's client is suing Hector Lepodise.
• Mr Solomon Moretsi: Claims to have lost a finger at Hector Lepodise's factory.
• Dr. Maketsi: A doctor from Mochudi about 10 years older than Mma Ramotswe. Considers him to be a friend. He calls on her for advice.
• Dr Komoti: A doctor who practices with Dr. Maketsi. Dr. Maketsi wonders if Dr. Komoti is on drugs, because he will be very knowledgeable one day and then no so on another.
• Billy Pilani: A police captain.
• Mma Notshi: The Witch Doctor's wife
• Mma Mothibi: Sunday school teacher when Mma Ramotswe was a child.
• Mr Oppenheimer: Add a description of this character.
• Peter Malatsi
• Mr Wallace Pate: Mr. Patel's son
• Mma Pekwane
• Seretse Khama
• Josiah: When Precious starts Sunday School, he sits beside her to tease her.
• Crazy Ted
• Dawson Cole
• Abee
• Amanda Collier
• McCall Smith
• Motswana

Quotes edit see section history

• “Love was a form of blindness that closed the eyes to the most glaring faults.”

  Obed Ramotswe

• “He looked at her in the darkness, at this woman who was everything to him - mother, Africa, wisdom, understanding, good things to eat, pumpkinds, chicken, the smell of sweet cattle breath, the white sky across the endless, endless bush, and the giraffe that cried, giving its tears for women to daub on their baskets; O Botswana, my country, my place.”

  Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni

• “He said nothing. There were times when you simply has to speak, or you would have your lifetime ahead to regret not speaking. But everytime he tried to speka to her of what was in his heart, he had failed.”

  Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni

• “I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place”

  Mma Ramotswe

• “What use was it having all that money if you could never sit still or just watch your cattle eating grass?”

  Mma Ramotswe

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• every man has a map in his heart of his own country and that the heart will never allow you to forget this map.

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• You can go through life and make new friends every year—every month practically—but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.

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• That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.

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• The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and then they would call that the right thing. That’s how most people thought.

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• “We are the ones who first ploughed the earth when Modise (God) made it,” ran an old Setswana poem. “We were the ones who made the food. We are the ones who look after the men when they are little boys, when they are young men, and when they are old and about to die. We are always there. But we are just women, and nobody sees us.”

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• It was curious how some people had a highly developed sense of guilt, she thought, while others had none. Some people would agonise over minor slips or mistakes on their part, while others would feel quite unmoved by their own gross acts of betrayal or dishonesty.

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• How sorry she felt for white people, who couldn’t do any of this, and who were always dashing around and worrying themselves over things that were going to happen anyway. What use was it having all that money if you could never sit still or just watch your cattle eating grass? None, in her view; none at all, and yet they did not know it. Every so often you met a white person who understood, who realised how things really were; but these people were few and far between and the other white people often treated them with suspicion.

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• I am just a tiny person in Africa, but there is a place for me, and for everybody, to sit down on this earth and touch it and call it their own.

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• love was a form of blindness that closed the eyes to the most glaring faults.

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• She felt terribly sorry for people who suffered from constipation, and she knew that there were many who did. There were probably enough of them to form a political party—with a chance of government perhaps—but what would such a party do if it was in power? Nothing, she imagined. It would try to pass legislation, but would fail.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Gaborone: Capital of Botswana
• Lobatse: A town in Botswana
• Zebra Drive: The street upon which Mma Ramotswe buys a home in Gabarone.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• late: means deceased. the characters say "my father is late" rather than "my late father."
• Pula: The currency of Botswana. One American dollar is worth about 7 pula.
• Mma: female title of address like "Mrs."
• Rra: male title of address like "Mr."

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• tea: In English societies, tea time is a social activity, a way to connect to others. Precious drinks tea to connect to herself and to her clients. Each time she is called upon to review and solve a case, she takes tea.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Tears of the Giraffe.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Alexander McCall Smith (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR6063.C326
• Dewey: 823.914

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery › Women Sleuths

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Alexander McCall Smith U.S. website

More Books Like This edit see section history

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