The South African nation of Botswana attracts wildlife tourists and diamond-buyers but little other attention from the outside world. It’s a big place, nearly as large as the state of Texas, but sparsely populated with only about 2.5 million inhabitants. That makes it the size of Greater Portland, Oregon. (The country houses about one twelfth the population of Texas.) But Botswana is a standout among the 48 nations of Sub-Saharan Africa. Ever since gaining independence from Britain in 1966, Botswana has been stable and democratically governed. And since independence, the nation has risen from the ranks of the world’s poorest countries into an upper-middle-income nation with relatively good infrastructure, education, and healthcare. And since 1998, the Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith has celebrated Botswana in a series of 26 short novels to date featuring the #1 Ladies Detective Agency. They’re a bold statement of hope for Africa’s future.
A heart-warming series of detective novels
The novels in this heart-warming series present as detective stories, and they’re certainly that on the surface. But only on the surface. The proprietor of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, Mma Precious Ramotswe, founded the tiny firm not to investigate murders, robberies, and such but to help people solve personal problems. In fact, a local newspaper describes the agency as ““the answer to the problems of those who have problems.” Marital, mostly, or those involving family. Sometimes business challenges. And, yes, occasionally, real crimes such as embezzlement, fraud, or theft intrude.
But McCall Smith’s central preoccupation is not with these cases. Rather, he uses them as a springboard to delve deeply into the engaging personalities of Mma Ramotswe, her husband, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, their two young male employees, her assistant, Mma Grace Makutsi, and her friend Mma Potokwane. And above all McCall Smith uses these six people, their thoughts and feelings, as a guide to the young nation of which they’re all so proud.
In the Time of Five Pumpkins (#1 Ladies Detective Agency #26) by Alexander McCall Smith (2015) 221 pages ★★★★☆
The six central characters in this series
The founder
Mma Precious Ramotswe is a big-hearted woman and mother of two adopted children. She is “traditionally built.” Earlier in life she endured a loveless marriage with an abusive musician but deeply loves her second husband and the two young children they’re raising. Her thoughts frequently drift back to her beloved father, Obed Ramotswe, a cattleman who was a man of great wisdom, kindness, and integrity. His moral rectitude and generosity guide her behavior in life and as a detective. And the cattle he left her on his passing provided the capital she used to found her agency.
The assistant
Mma Grace Makutsi walked into the agency one day soon after its founding and talked Mma Ramotswe into hiring her as a secretary. She was, after all, a graduate of the Botswana Secretarial College with a grade of 97 percent. And she never lets anyone forget it. Judgmental to a fault and quick to take umbrage, Mma Makutsi was raised in desperate poverty in the distant village of Bobonong in the north. (Gaborone is in the extreme southeast of the country, on the border of South Africa.) Mma Makutsi has promoted herself again and again, rising from senior secretary to her current title as executive president for development. Wisely, Mma Ramotswe doesn’t think titles matter.
The husband
Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni is never referred to in any other way, even in conversation with his wife. He is the proprietor of the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, which shares space with the detective agency. He’s widely regarded as the best mechanic in Botswana. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni is a soft-spoken, even painfully shy, man who can listen to the sounds an engine makes and diagnose its problems. He is constantly trying to persuade his wife to give up the cranky little white van she insists on keeping despite its frequent breakdowns.
The young mechanics
As business picked up at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni hired two young men as apprentices. Fanwell is diligent and cautious like the boss and has become certified as a mechanic. By contrast, Charlie is impulsive and fun-loving. He’d rather chase girls and spin out improbable theories about other people’s (and their cars’) mysterious behavior. Because Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni can’t afford to keep him on full-time without a certificate but can’t bear to fire him, Mma Ramotswe has hired him part-time as a gopher. But Charlie prefers to call himself an “assistant detective.”
The best friend
Mma Potokwane is the formidable and resourceful matron of the orphan farm just outside Gaborone. Traditionally built like Mma Ramotswe, she is famous for her fruitcake and always seems to have one on hand when her friend visits the orphan farm. Mma Potokwane somehow manages to coax the necessary resources to keep the orphan farm in operation. The fruit cake helps.
You want to know “what happens” in this novel? I won’t waste words on that. You should have gotten the impression that the action is usually far less important than the characters and the setting in these incomparably charming little books.
About the author
Sir Alexander “Sandy” McCall Smith CBE FRSE FRSL has written 89 adult novels, 59 children’s novels, nine collections of short stories, and numerous other articles. He’s sold tens of millions of copies of his books but is best known worldwide for the long series of #1 Ladies Detective Series novels. However, he came to writing late in life, with four children’s novels and a collection of short stories published in the 1980s. He was about 40 years of age late in that decade when the floodgates began to open. However, to a great many legal scholars McCall Smith is known as a colleague. He was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and became a world-class expert on medical law and bioethics, for which he is well known in legal circles.
McCall Smith was born in 1948 in what is now Zimbabwe. He moved to Scotland at age 17 to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned LLB and PhD degrees. After teaching in Ireland for a time, he returned to Southern Africa and co-founded the law school and taught law at the University of Botswana. He has lived in Edinburgh for many years.
For related reading
I’ve read all 25 of the previous books in this charming series, including a great many before I launched this website. My most recent review was of #25, The Great Hippopotamus Hotel (Those lady detectives rise to the challenge again).
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