Oh my – be still my heart. I love these The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and have been reading them as they came out in 1999. So this is Book 18 and yes, I suppose the stories are slowing down a bit. If you haven’t been following the series don’t start here. Start with book 1, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and go from there. The overarching relationships carry the series, not the little stories in each book.
Precious Ramotswe owns a little detective agency in Gabone, Botswana. She set up this shop in book 1 and hired a secretary in book 2 (I think), but by book 18 the secretary has become almost a partner – kind of. Her name is Grace Makutsi and she is a kick.
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The House of Unexpected Sisters
by Alexander McCall Smith
2017 / 240 pages
read by Lisette Lecat – 9h 28m
rating – 10 (enjoyment only) / general fiction
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The books are sweet – the coziest of cozies (except for the Botswana factor and no romance). I love them. The little “mysteries” this time are 1. why did a young friend of Mma Mamakuzi lose her job – the allegations are that she was rude to a customer, but that’s not the whole truth. The other mystery involves a woman with the same last name as Precious Ramatswe and from the same town. Who is she and where did she come from?
I think this is the funniest of the series. I laughed out loud to the point of tears a couple times. But it’s also tender and the thing I love most is watching these characters arrange themselves around new issues as life goes on.
Again, I love these books but by this time it’s more for sentimental reasons than for anything I’d honestly recommend to a friend. So I’ll just say that if you’re a fan, go for it! If not yet, start at book 1 and see how it goes.
Becky's Books - 
I haven’t read this one, must go out and find it.
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Oh, I’ve lost track of these. I’ll need to see where I got up to, but I think I’m now quite a few behind the pace. We used to make a family read of them – hubby, parents and ma-in-law – on our annual coast holiday, but ma-in-law has died and my parents have aged so that tradition has gone (and with it, reading these books).
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How fun for you, Sue! My hubby and I shared books but no one else since my sister in our childhood. And no one in my family shares my love of these books although both mom and daughter have tried. They’re my own little treat. I don’t know how it would work to miss books in the series because the relationships build and develop or sometimes there are new characters who become regular. Try for close anyway. Happy reading! 🙂
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Oh no, I’d go back to where we left off for the reason you give.
And yes it was fun and I sort of lost interest when it ended.
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