The Number 1 Ladies
Detective Agency in
Gaborone, Botswana in southern Africa helps women and others with any
difficulties they might encounter and which they feel necessitate the services
of a private investigator.
Mma Ramotswe is the founder and owner of the agency and she is assisted by
the very professional, ambitious and strict Mma Mkutsi.
In this novel, Mma Ramotswe, a traditionally built lady who cannot say no to
another piece of cake, has to investigate a case of alleged poisoning, as well
as the morality of the finalists of the Miss Gaborone beauty pageant. Tourists
also find a boy who smells like a lion and cannot speak, and the matron of
the orphanage asks Mma Ramotswe to try and find out where he comes from.
Except for the agency, Mma Ramotswe also has to cope with planning her
upcoming wedding to Mr JLB Matekoni, the owner of the most famous vehicle
repair shop in Gaborone. But Mr Matekoni has a strange illness called
depression and Mma Ramotswe does not know how to help her beloved Mr
Matekoni. The cherry on top is that Mr Matekoni adopted two
children, a
handicapped girl and her young brother. They live with Mma Ramotswe, who
suddenly has to play mother to two children.
Morality for Beautiful Girls is not a traditional
detective novel in which the
crimes that are committed make you hair stand up. Mma Ramotswe rather
busies herself with investigating the morals of people.
This book is different, heart-warming and delightful. The earthiness of the
characters, the casual style of the writer and the innocence of the story are in
such refreshing contrast to the stereotype crime detective novels that you
cannot put it down until you have read the last page. It is a breath of fresh air
in a world that has gone mad, and which is in love with violence and crime.