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The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith


aromaannie

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aromaannie, I think a lot of authors are doing that (using the same character) There are some comments about that in the featured authors section, as our featured author this month Stephen Booth uses the same characters in his books.

 

thread

 

you may even want to have a look here.

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I want to find a new author who writes about the same character and I was thinking of trying this series. What are peoples thoughts on the books and is there a similar style author.

 

I have read the first of this series a while ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is gentle and flows along - you can feel the heat of Botswana and Mme Ramotswe is a fab character with a devious brain to solve mysteries. I have several of the follow up books to be read and look forward to reading them.:blush:

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I want to find a new author who writes about the same character and I was thinking of trying this series. What are peoples thoughts on the books and is there a similar style author.

 

 

I loved this series - number 8 is out very soon. They are lovely heartwarming stories and life is so simple and straight forward in them - quite an antidote to today's complicated lifestyles. My favourite novel by Alexander McCall Smith is the 'Two and a Half Pillars of Wisdom' in which the main character is a professor and is very funny.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just want to put another vote in for these books. I wasn't sure I would enjoy them being set abroad and with characters with names in a different language and yet soon overcame this as I was caught up in the stories and the characters. They are what you might call easy reading and yet the crimes which the main character sets out to solve are not easy to guess. The books also include some tragedy as well and can be thought provoking. I have read 3 so far and there is an on going story through them so I would advise people to read them from the start to throughly enjoy them.

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A lady I should to work with read them all and really enjoyed them, I never really thought it before, but I might invest x

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  • 2 months later...

I can't say enough positive things about this series... granted, some of the names might be difficult to keep straight... although, the characters are so different that you will soon be able to differentiate between them. Alexander McCall Smith also has another series that is set in Edinburgh, which features the Isobel Dallhousie's Sunday Philosophy Club. The names might be easier to keep straight... if that is a major consideration for you.

 

Danna

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We were discussing Alexander McCall Smith at the reading group I was at on Wednesday. A couple of the ladies had tried and not got on with his books. Interestingly everyone who said that had tried reading the ones set in Scotland. I must admit I started by reading the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and was hooked. When I tried the Edinburgh ones they just did nothing for me. So if you want to try Alexander McCall Smith pick up No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency first!

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Judy,

 

Isn't Bertie the cutest little thing? I won't pull a spoiler here... but, if anyone hasn't read the 44 Scotland Street/Espresso Tales books... wait until you meet Bertie... I still smile when I think of his Italian description of his teacher....

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I bought my Mum No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency for mothering Sunday a few years ago, but she was really disappointed with it (I asked for her opinion - she wasn't being rude - I said I'd sooner know what she thought to avoid buying more if she didn't like them) - and it put me off reading them.

 

Apparently (I don't know if this is true or just folklore) he churns out two books a year!

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Judy,

 

Isn't Bertie the cutest little thing? I won't pull a spoiler here... but, if anyone hasn't read the 44 Scotland Street/Espresso Tales books... wait until you meet Bertie... I still smile when I think of his Italian description of his teacher....

 

 

The next book in the Scotland Street series is called The World According to Bertie.

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I was really pleased today as one of our readers has just discovered Alexander McCall Smith and so I was telling her about the different series that he has written. I mentioned that my personal favourite was The 21/2 Pillars of Wisdom and so she gave it a try. When she came in today she made a point of telling me how much she'd laughed at it and 'bored' her family with constant commentaries about the funny bits. I love it when I recommend a book and then people come back to tell me they've enjoyed it.

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My husband and I both read 44 Scotland Street and Espresso Tales at the same time. We live close to the college both of our children were attending, so we tried to get up there every weekend to take them to lunch. We did exactly what you described... We would tell them all of the wonderful Bertie happenings while en route to the restaurants. I was very surprised when my son decided to read both of the books, and my daughter is reading the first one right now. (My son reads only science fiction, so these books were departures for him. And, yes, he enjoyed them. Although there is something to be said about telling prospective readers all of the great moments in a book.)

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Had to respond to this thread! I read The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency last month (after it had been sitting on my tbr pile for far longer than I care to remember), and absolutely LOVED it!! It was quirky and very charming. Being the book addict that I am, I now have three of the 44 Scotland Street books (I think there actually are only 3 of them) and about the next four in the Ladies Detective Agency series. I only wish that I hadn't waited so long to read the first one.

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Ruth,

If you like Alexander McCall Smith as much as it sounds.... you are really in for a lot of reading fun... He also has the Professor Doctor Moritz Maria Von Igelfeld trilogy! It's a little different than the others, but very enjoyable.

I started reading the Ladies' Detective Agency series before trying his Philosophy Club series. I prefer the Ladies' series over the Philosophy Club, but I wonder if that is because I started with that one. My husband started by reading the Ladies' Philosophy, and he prefers that one.

My daughter is now reading the Philosophy Club books...

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