The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

By Alexander McCall Smith

This is the first novel in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series where we get to know Mma Ramotswe. When her father dies Precious Ramotswe sells the hundred and eighty cattle she inherits and uses the money to set up Botswana's first female detective agency to "help people with problems in their lives".

Rather than just the one big mystery there are a variety of cases, which includes a missing husband, a wayward teenager daughter, a strangely behaving doctor and a boy kidnapped by witch doctors.

With lots of humour the author has managed to create a story unlike any other detective novel I have every read. My favourite book for 2004 and definitely not the last one that I will read about the many mysteries I am sure Mma Ramotswe is about to solve in the future.