The Kalahari Typing School for Men

Praise for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and Alexander McCall Smith:

“General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much, if not more, than mystery readers.” -- Publishers Weekly

“The author’s prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. His descriptions leave one as if standing in the Botswanan landscape. This is art that conceals art. I haven’t read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time.” -- Anthony Daniels, The Sunday Telegraph

“I was enchanted by the character of Precious Ramotswe and the sly humor of Alexander McCall Smith’s writing, his deft evocation of a culture.” -- Anthony Minghella, who, with Sydney Pollack’s company Mirage, will be producing The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency TV series with New Africa Media Films

“A standout series.” -- The New Brunswick Reader

"In the course of her work, Mma Ramotswe offers ample evidence of her country's complexities and contradictions....Practical yet softhearted, inventive yet steeped in convention, Mma Ramotswe is an appealing personality.... Mma Ramotswe’s methods -- and her results -- are as unusual as the novels they inhabit." -- Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

“One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years.” -- The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

“Smart and sassy.... Precious’s progress is charted in passages that have the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once.... Thoroughly engaging and entertaining.” -- The Los Angeles Times

“One of the most entrancing literary treats of many a year.... A tapestry of extraordinary nuance and richness.” -- The Wall Street Journal

“A quiet joy, a little gem of a book set apart from the genre by the quality of its writing, as well as by its exotic setting. [It] uses simple but tellingly descriptive language to introduce readers to its warm and appealing heroine.” -- The Boston Globe

THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY.
FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES.
UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT.
A beguiling mystery and lyrical novel of Africa -- the fourth in a series that the L.A. Times calls "thoroughly engaging and entertaining."
Now that The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (the only detective agency for ladies and others in Botswana) is established, its founder, Precious Ramotswe, can look upon her life with pride: she's reached her late thirties ("the finest age to be"), has a house, two children, a good fiance -- Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni -- and many satisfied customers. But life is never without its problems. It turns out that her adopted son is responsible for the dead hoopoe bird in the garden; her assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband and needs help with her idea to open the Kalahari Typing School for Men; yet Mma Ramotswe's sexist rival has no trouble opening his Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency across town. Will Precious Ramotswe's delightfully cunning and profoundly moral methods save the day? Follow the continuing story of Botswana's first lady detective in the irresistible The Kalahari Typing School for Men.