Review of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
"Everything has been something before," said Mma Precious Ramotswe in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. As true for her as it is for the author. Alexander McCall Smith is a British-Zimbabwean national who was a respected medical and bioethics lawyer before becoming a world-famous author — not shabby at all.
In an interview with Maclean's magazine in 2010, Alexander shared his writing method and how it shapes his message. He related how whenever he had tried writing novels with a pen, his writing was stilted, but it just flows when he types on the computer. It is interesting how an author's mind works: how personal quirks shape how they write their characters. Whether the medium is dictation, cursive, or keyboards, it can often change which part of the brain authors tap into for creative expression. In this case, McCall Smith prefers sitting in front of a computer hammering out thousands of words a day, fingers clacking across its keys like a pianist. His writing is crisp (thanks to Matt Pechey for this great word), and "traditionally built," like Mma Ramotswe herself, who dispenses wisdom on "the right approach to life" — but with a Botswana flair. McCall Smith's books are not long, which fits his style. Brevity might be a virtue to him, as it is with his sensible heroine. To some degree, this makes me think he would appreciate one of Elmore Leonard's rules of writing, "if it sounds like writing, rewrite it." Or if he preferred the advice of more hardened writers, "kill your darlings."
Readers of suspense, thrillers, and horror mysteries, if a slow character burn is not your style, this book is not for you.
In the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, McCall Smith debuts his 34-year-old heroine by sharing the "something before" of her life. Going back to her birth and her father's life, Obed Ramotswe, the author takes us on a journey of how Mma Ramotswe grows up to gain wisdom, from her mother's death to the loss of a surrogate mother to a husband who became her abuser before abandoning her. With subsequent losses, one more tragic than the rest, her wisdom only increases, and fortunately, her optimism remains.
Once free of the bonds of her past, Mma Ramotswe blossoms, and she becomes the sensible crime fighter she is, but in her way, in a male-dominated country where the nature of crime is very personal and familial. The crimes that Mme Ramotswe solve seems less important than the psychology of the characters written on faces. It's a change of pace for a modern reader, who might read book after book whose thrill factor (or horrific nature of the fictional crime) must get more shocking to keep our attention.
If you want a change of pace, try a clean mystery with heart. Check it out.