[Books] Blue Shoes and Happiness (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 7)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is definitely easy reading for me. As far as mysteries go, they're actually pretty light on the whole mystery side of things when you really get down to it. We rarely have dead victims apart maybe from that guy with the crocodile. There are a few thefts but nothing overly elaborate. And we don't get complex smuggling rings or drug runners either.

And that's a major part of the appeal of these books. You don't get into the series for excessive excitement, danger and thrills. You get into this series for a rather uncommon brand of common sense put to very good use in solving the seemingly smaller but no less important little mysteries of every day life in Botswana.

And that's the curious thing. You'd think that these sorts of stories would bore a geek like me, and yet I find myself reading one book after the other. They're just so darned comfortable. They help one rest one's weary mind after a long day at work. They don't require too much thought or effort, and yet they flow through your so well, the stories just leave you feeling a sense of warmth and contentment once you're done. And that's a nice quality to find in a book to be sure.

[Books] In The Company of Cheerful Ladies (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 6)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of books have become the sort of light, comfortable reading that's nice to return to at the end of a busy day. As much as these books are about detectives, the cases tend to require more common sense that formal forensic reasoning. Thus the stories do maintain a nicely feminine feel to them somehow and yet they're penned by a man. Go figure.

However these are practically just serial novels - quite indulgences that start out okay, move right along through the cases featured in the particular book and then move on. And while the characters do evolve over time with events like marriages and deaths in the family, these changes tend to not have too much effect on the narrative flow as a whole. There is definitely continuity across the titles, yes, but at times one can't help but feel that we're not seeing parts of the narrative that we may be expecting should naturally follow.  Or there are those moment when the characters just seem to tell us what's going on and what they're going to do next instead of investing in the pages for us to see how it all unfolds.

But these books do try to maintain a lighter town through a sense of brevity, so I suppose you just need to play along for now.

[Books] The Full Cupboard of Life (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 5)

So I'm already five books into this series and I don't see myself giving up on it any time soon. I'm still surprised at how much I'm enjoying these books - admittedly they make for light, easy reading that remains delightfully witty in just the right doses. Sure, they're not very heavy on actual mysteries, but as the series has progressed it's been made clear to us readers that it isn't all about the "glamorous" side of private investigation.

While each book in this series remains pretty short by paperback standards (about 200 or so per book), a lot goes on in each new volume, thus further enriching the stories of our beloved characters in their little corner of Botswana. And that was really what turned this series into something else entirely - give it enough time and you'll find yourself falling in love with them and no longer just focusing on whether or not there's an overly complicated mystery to follow.

In that sense, these books are more about these living, vibrant human characters and it just so happens to involve the occasional mystery on the side. Instead of sleuthing and complicated technologies we get a lot of common sense - something which isn't quite as common these days when you really think about it.

[Books] The Kalahari Typing School For Men (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 4)

I can't imagine how writers manage to conceptualize the continuing development of an on-going book series. I can sort of get the trilogy concept - that just requires a pretty big story concept, the discipline to break it down into three main segments or major story arcs then you just work on filling in the gaps in-between to come up with the details. But at least a trilogy has a clear start, beginning and end and that helps things along most certainly.

For a continuing series, how far should you map out your plans? Do you bank on your books to continue to do well in the market or should you not care about that and just write? Do you start to factor in fan feedback or do you feel you should only consult with colleagues in the field? Does character growth have to involve dramatic changes or events in their fictional lives or should you just take a day-to-day approach, as if you were live-blogging the life of your creations? There are just so many questions like these that come in my head when I write lengthy stories, which is probably why I have such a hard time trying to finish.

In that regard, this is one of the many reasons I've fallen in love with Alexander McCall Smith's books. He's manage to combine the appeal of the serial mystery (to some extent) while still managing the continuing development of the personal stories of his characters. And with this fourth book, he continues to deliver in many ways.

[Books] Morality for Beautiful Girls (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 3)

I've come to really like the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of mystery novels. Sure, the mysteries aren't overly complex and they don't tackle the really serious crimes that involve the usual intrigue, fear and suspense we associate with the crime genre. Instead, we get a lot of common sense combined with deductive reasoning and a woman's intuition to solve crucial problems that remain important even through they aren't necessarily exciting.

Plus the series seems almost like a long series of fables or fairy tales, but in a tone that we all have come to associate with Africa. The words are deceptively simple in their structure and form but the story they tell once brought together tends to be a lot more complex that they initially appear to be. Plus the series has a number of rather striking and memorable characters who certainly help define the overall flow and tone to things.

And they're very easy reading - which makes them perfect companions at the end of another stressful work day. While I still enjoy the complex novel here and there, we also need those books that are just there to entertain and to be enjoyed lightly with just the right amount of thinking, but not enough to stress you out all over again. That's what these books feel like to me and this is why I continue to buy them.

[Books] Tears of the Giraffe (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Book 2)

Given my appreciation for logic and puzzles, you'd think that I'd be more of a mystery kind of guy. But apart from reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, I haven't really ventured much into the book genre. I've seen a number of murder mysteries as TV shows and movies but it's never really translated into my reading habits.

But every now and then it becomes hard to ignore the public support for a particular author. The bookstores start to feature him or her as the author of the month and the books get prime spots on store shelves. By that point it all becomes next to impossible to ignore.

That's the story of my relationship with Alexander McCall Smith. His books about an African detective agency were outside my normal reading scope but the press around the books was pretty good. Plus the covers were nicely colorful and the snippets I browsed here and there did seem rather promising. So I picked up a box set of the books a few years ago and I've been slowly making my way through them. It's only recently that I've decided to explore the books in earnest - partly because I seriously enjoyed the TV mini-series based on some of the books.

[TV] The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

When books are translated into other media, it's very rare that fans are satisfied or the end result is worth anything. Sure, there are a few here and there that turn out to be pretty decent on their own but such cases tend to be few and far between.

When it comes to books, it seems that translations to TV shows have a better chance of succeeding, if only because they have the sheer potential length to truly cover a lot of the nuances of the book. Let's face it, even a single book as a lot more dialog than your average movie and thus having several episodes of a TV show or TV mini-series tends to have a much better chance at capturing more and more of a book.

It's not a surefire formula for success, but when it does work the results can be rather impressive.

Image via Wikipedia

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is the TV adaptation of the popular series of books by Alexander McCall Smith that follow the adventures of the "greatest" (and only) female detective in all of Botswana, Mma Ramotswe (Jill Scott). Using a good mix of woman's intuition, keen observation and common sense, she manages to solve a variety of cases in her own unconventional way.

Supporting her is her secretary and eventually assistant detective Mma Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose) and her friend, the next door queer hairdresser BK (Desmond Dube) and somewhat love interest, the car mechanic JLB Matekoni (Lucian Msamati).

Starting from its feature-length pilot episode to the six shows beyond that, the series does manage to follow the original books well enough with a few changes here and there such as the creation of the character of BK or some of the other cases. That doesn't take away from the feel-good nature of the series and how a detective show can survive with little to no violence and just sheer good sense and alternative solutions. Mma Ramotswe has a unique sense of justice that ensures that everyone gets what they deserve but at the same time factors in the true motivations of these people instead of simply condemning them for thier transgressions.

It's interesting that the late Anthony Minghella decided to add in a gay character like BK - the original books were already known for tackling a variety of issues such as infidelity and AIDS but to throw in this character as more than jut comic relief was a nice touch. Sure, Dube could do a better job of playing a gay man, but then again I may be mistakenly basing my concept of queer based on a Western perspective - who knows how gay men behave in Botswana after all.

Jill Scott is simply amazing as Precious Ramotswe and she fills her character's shoes in more ways than one. He accent in the series has a nice touch of Africa to it without sounding too fake or put on, thus giving the series a nice sense of realism while keeping things more or less understandable. Anika Noni Rose is even more amazing as Grace Makutsi given how different she is here compared to her more recent role in the movie Dreamgirls. Seriously, you may not recognize her the first time around in her portrayal of the highly conservative secretary.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency makes for a very refreshing and alternative TV show in the same way the books have been refreshing in their own uniqueness in the reading world. It's something that I'd highly recommend to anyone with the only risk being a sense of loss when you finish the first season and find yourself wanting more.

The first season of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency gets 5 cups of bush tea out of a possible 5.

[Books] The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I rarely pick up books because they're popular - you can call me a bit of a romantic in that regard. I prefer books that are personally introduced to me, the kinds of titles your friends feel passionate about and chose to share with you out of the blue. Hence, titles that become international bestsellers don't catch my attention until someone tells me about it directly.

This was not the case with the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which really just caught my attention and drove me insane with curiosity. No one I knew had read them just yet and so no one could share their opinions with me. Eventually, I couldn't bear it and I broke my own rule about the need for personal introductions and picked up the title. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.

The first book in the series, also named The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, was a surprisingly good read and I'm all the more glad for deciding to risk it. Sure, I knew it was already popular since the author had already written a number of books in the series hence it must have been making money but that was no guarantee that I'd like it.

The books are typically tagged as mystery novels since the principal character Mma Precious Ramotswe is a detective after all and she has started the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," but the book is a lot more than just Sherlock Holmes repackaged as an African woman in Botswana.

The book feels like a collection of short stories since the author chooses to tell the tales of several cases alongside little flashbacks and back stories for the major characters, given them greater depth and making the whole thing feel like a collection of African fairy tales. He does hit in a deceptively simplistic manner which belies the true complexity of the story as a whole. It all seems to fit the notion of how classical Africa has always been a land of known for its stories and rich cultural history.

The books are rather short and seem to be easy reads but personally I felt they seemed much longer - and not in a negative sense. You get the urge to attempt to peer around the corner as it were to see if you can figure out anything deeper beyond the end of certain chapters but there's really not much else at least from an explicitly stated perspective.

I can hardly wait to start on the next novel when I have the time.