C. (Comment, never msg).'s Reviews > Tears of the Giraffe

I have a lot to say about Alexander McCall Smith’s series. It is for readers who don’t mind jumping outside a structure and especially; for appreciators of the rich, intricate privilege of immersion in someone else’s culture. Acquaintance with Botswana, Africa is the point. Mysteries are on the side but this series certainly belongs to the genre, in the Botswana way. An incongruous person and place make Precious Ramotswe’s career whimsical; except that it works! Her ‘No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency’ receives ample clients. Rather than one mystery driving the novels; she solves two or three per story, while we observe life in her customs and climate.

Do not minimize these by mistaking the underlying whimsy for “cozy mysteries”. The cultural portrayals are profound and the topics are very serious and sobering. These are “standard adult mysteries”, with a perceptive heroine who surprises us at every turn and makes them spectacular. This is a novel to envision, when we say some of them feel like a journey. Uncannily, this Scottish author has no accent and writes halting, plain dialogue; just the way educated people whose second language is English would speak. We learn how to address men and women, how to respectfully shake hands, and to upturn both of them to receive a gift. Not hiring domestic help if you can afford it at all is considered unkind, for it employs the would-be poor. I feel well-versed in interacting appropriately, if I could visit.

An astonishing survival tactic of a nomadic race, is burying nursing infants if their Mothers die, because taking care of them would weigh on their resources! Siblings come into the lives of Precious and her fiancé, because a Sister saved her Brother and they eventually joined an orphanage. “Tears Of The Giraffe”, 200o, is poignantly memorable.