Modern Fiction Books > Alexander McCall Smith Modern Fiction Books

Advantages: Engaging characters and a good story
Disadvantages: If you didn't like the earlier books, you probably won't enjoy this one!

...opinion it's better to read the series as a whole since this book continues the character development of the lead people already introduced in the earlier stories. We find Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi still running their detective agency, and this time they face some anonymous threatening letters. At the same time, there are ramifications after Mma Makutsi persuades her fiance to buy a new bed, whilst Mma Ramotswe's husband, Mr JLB Maketoni is trying ... Read review

Advantages: easy read, relaxing
Disadvantages: too short

...hold your attention right till the end (and into the first chapter of its follow-up Tears of the Giraffe if you happen to own the 2003 Abacus paperback edition). I suppose it is mainly due to the relaxed way the story or stories are told. You cannot help getting into that same relaxed mode. Arguably nothing really happens, crime-wise apart from a bit of adultery here, a bit of muti there. Why don't people die? Have you noticed how many times the ...
...As if the great nation was obsessed by death. But not in Alexander Mc Call Smith's Bostwana. You do wonder at one time if something sinister has indeed happened. However it would have been a mistake, I believe, if the writer had gone down a different path as the whole tone of the book would have been changed, creating an imbalance of sorts. But if the lack of gripping stuff (as in violence and murder) puts you off then just read the book for its ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining read, great characters, authentic setting, gentle humour
Disadvantages: Complex names

...brought into their lives in Tears of the Giraffe and I felt that added an extra dimension to the story, which was definitely beneficial. I will look forward to reading more about them in future books. Tears of the Giraffe interweaves their lives along with the cases that come into the detective agency. Mma Ramotswe's work is different to traditional policing and the novels never get violent, frightening or gory. Although they deal with some serious ...
...gentle humour. I read Tears of the Giraffe in a few days. It is reasonably short - 217 pages - and split into chapters, which I find always helps me read a book faster. ("Just one more chapter!") I also want to find out what happens next, of course! There is one minor disadvantage to these books for me and that is the African names. I have studied several languages, but none from Africa and I do find some of the names a bit off-putting initially, ... Read review

Advantages: Charming, amusing, unique
Disadvantages: You'll either love it or hate it

...surprise or move its reader. Blue Shoes and Happiness shocked me: Mma Ramotswe mentions a certain four-letter word that anybody who has read any of the previous novels in the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series will have a hard time imagining her even thinking. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you, but here’s a clue – it begins with the letter ‘D’. As usual, Alexander McCall Smith combines intriguing cases with valuable moral lessons and a ...
...a gorgeous pair of new blue shoes to help her through it, thus showing that there are women as far afield as Botswana who share my obsession with shoes. Will she manage to reconcile with Phuti Radiphuti without compromising her feminist values? Like the other novels in the series, Blue Shoes and Happiness is a thoroughly enjoyable lighthearted read that’s a cut above most of the usual ‘chick lit’ that women are supposed to like. McCall Smith interweaves ... Read review

Advantages: Gentle, charming reading
Disadvantages: Not a lot actually happens

This is the fourth installment in the popular No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. I don't feel it is essential to have read the previous books as there are no real plot spoilers, any background knowledge you need into the characters is provided briefly and succinctly whenever necessary. We again meet our heroine Mma Precious Ramotswe the proprietor on the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, her assistant Mma Makutsi, and fiancé Mr J L B Matekoni of Tlokweng ...
...no longer in charge of the girl-mad apprentices, one of whom appears to have found God. Mma Ramotswe has competition in the form of a new detective, who has opened modern offices in their Botswana town and has been to New York. Worried that she may be soon out of a job Mma Makutsi becomes an entrepreneur and thinks about opening her own typing school. The actual detective cases are never the main part of the book and the two cases Mma Ramotswe 'investigates' ... Read review