Book #8: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

I feel like the title to this book is a little misleading. It makes it sound like this book is being marketed to middle-aged women for their book clubs, like The Secret Life of Bees or Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or something. I had no idea that it was set in Africa or that the main character was a black woman. (This seems a little confusing to me--why does a white man feel at all comfortable writing from the perspective of a black African woman? Even if he was raised in Africa? I feel like that is such a minefield these days so it's surprising that that even happened. And that so few people seem to notice it in their reviews on Goodreads. But if I can forget about that, it's a really good read.) It was an awesome surprise to get into that, and I think that those aspects--the location and the main character, Mma Ramotswe--were the best parts of the book. The book is located in the Mystery section of the library, but it's not really a mystery book--it's more of a slice of Precious Ramotswe's life and the people she encounters while helping her clients. The individual mysteries are usually resolved within a chapter or so and are more to show how intelligent Mma Ramotswe is and how she hones in on how to solve each problem. And as you read it, you get a good sense of the country of Botswana and the people living in it (again, if the white male author is to be believed completely). I really liked learning about Botswana--not a place I've ever learned much about--and Mma Ramotswe makes it sound like it's heaven on earth, almost, even though it's apparently a very dusty, mosquito-y, desert-stricken place. It piqued my interest and makes me want to go visit it and see if it really is so amazing. And Mma Ramotswe is a very fun character--supremely self-confident and able to think on her feet in awkward or dangerous situations. I liked her and would read some more books about her.

There are a lot of books in this series--sixteen, according to Goodreads. I just can't invest that much energy into a series I don't feel all that passionate about. So I may read one or two more of these, but probably not much more than that.