The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

This book deserves a high rating for its original setting, and also deserves a high rating for the character of Mma Precious Ramotswe. While reading this book, I kept my web browser close by to find photos and information about the areas in Africa the author describes. If a book intrigues me to the point that I want to learn real history and geography alongside it, I consider it a great read. This book has an overall mystery that doesn't get started until about midway through the story. In addition to the big mystery, there are several small mysteries that the author uses to develop Mma Ramotswe's character. There's a lot of action and thought-provoking prose throughout the book, and of course, Mma Ramotswe is just an awesome African private detective that I would love to sit down to dinner with. I am shelving the rest of this series in favor of others that I'm reading, but I will definitely come back to this series!