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The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' is a series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana and featuring the character Mma Precious Ramotswe. The series is named after the first novel, published in 1998. Twenty-two novels have been published in the series between 1998 and 2021. Mma Precious Ramotswe is the main character in this series. The country of Botswana is in a sense a character as well, as it figures prominently in the stories. Mma Ramotswe starts up her detective agency using the inheritance from her father to move to the capital city, Gaborone, to buy a house for herself and an office for her new business. She feels a detective needs to know about people more than anything to solve problems for them. The novels are as much about the adventures and foibles of different characters as they are about solving mysteries. Each book in the series follows from the previous book. The readership was at first small, then grew abruptly in popularity in the US and in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' series. The "McCall" derives from his great-great-grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, in 1833. Early life Alexander McCall Smith was born in 1948 in Bulawayo in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), to British parents. He was the only son, having three elder sisters. His father worked as a public prosecutor in Bulawayo. McCall Smith's paternal grandfather was the medical doctor and New Zealand communit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moshoeshoe II
Moshoeshoe II (2 May 1938 – 15 January 1996), previously known as Constantine Bereng Seeiso, was the Paramount Chief of Basutoland, succeeding paramount chief Seeiso from 1960 until the country gained full independence from Britain in 1966. He was King of Lesotho from 1966 until his exile in 1990, and from 1995 until his death in 1996. Early life Moshoeshoe was born with the name Constantine Bereng Seeiso and was the descendant of the founder of the nation, Moshoeshoe, which is where he got his royal name. The young Seeiso was educated at the Roma College in Lesotho, then (apparently fleeing rumours that his stepfather planned to poison him) was sent to England, first to Ampleforth College and later to Corpus Christi College, Oxford.Obituary: King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho by Benjamin Pogr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muti
Muthi is a traditional medicine practice in Southern Africa as far north as Lake Tanganyika. Name In South African English, the word ''muti'' is derived from the Zulu language, Zulu/Xhosa language, Xhosa/Northern Ndebele language, Northern Ndebele ''umuthi'', meaning 'tree', whose root is ''-thi''. In Southern Africa, ''muti'' and cognates of ''umuthi'' are in widespread use in most indigenous African languages as well as in South African English and Afrikaans, which sometimes use ''muti'' as a slang word for medicine in general. This noun is of the ''umu''/''imi'' class so the singular ('tree') is ''umuthi'' and the plural ('trees') is ''imithi''. Since the pronunciation of the initial vowel of this class is unstressed, the singular is sometimes pronounced ''muthi''. The word is rendered as ''muti'' by the historical effects of the British colonialism, colonial spelling. In colloquial English and Afrikaans the word ''muti'' is often used to refer to medicines in general or me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era. David was the husband of Mary Moffat Livingstone, from the prominent 18th Century missionary family, Moffat. He had a mythic status that operated on a number of interconnected levels: Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of British commercial and colonial expansion. Livingstone's fame as an explorer and his obsession with learning the sources of the Nile River was founded on the belief that if he could solve that age-old mystery, his fame would give him the influence to end the East African Arab–Swahili slave trade. "The Nile sources", he told a friend, "are valuabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Livingstone (née Moffat)
Mary Livingstone (née Moffat; 12 April 1821 – 27 April 1862) was the wife of the Scottish Congregationalist missionary David Livingstone. She was a linguist, an experienced traveller, and managed the household affairs including missionary stations and infant school. Mary was fluent in Tswana, the language of the BaTswana people. Her linguistic abilities and her lived experience of working in remote outposts in Southern Africa made it possible for the couple of survive. Biography Mary Moffat was the first of ten children born to Robert Moffat, a Scottish missionary, and his wife Mary (née Smith 1795–1870). Mary was born in Griquatown, about 93 miles west of Kimberley. She spent her early life at the mission at Kuruman. From 1839 to 1843 she lived in Britain with her parents. Her father, Robert Moffat, was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary who worked among the Bechuana people at Kuruman. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Moffat (missionary)
Robert Moffat (21 December 1795 – 9 August 1883) was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, father of Mary Moffat Livingstone and father-in-law of David Livingstone, and first translator of the Bible into Setswana. Life Moffat was born of humble parentage in Ormiston, East Lothian. To find employment, he moved south to Cheshire in England as a gardener. In 1814, whilst employed at West Hall, High Legh in Cheshire he experienced difficulties with his employer due to his Methodist sympathies. For a short period, after having applied successfully to the London Missionary Society (LMS) to become an overseas missionary, he took an interim post as a farmer, at Plantation Farm in Dukinfield (where he first met Mary his future wife). The job had been found for him by William Roby, who took Moffat under his wing for a year. In September 1816, Moffat was formally commissioned at Surrey Chapel in London as a missionary of LMS (on the same day as John Williams) and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon
''The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon'' is the fourteenth mystery novel by Alexander McCall Smith in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, first published in 2013. The novel features the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe and is set in Botswana. Mma Ramotswe has two cases on hand, one to verify the identity of a boy as the heir to a large farm and the other to stop the smear campaign against the owner of the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, as it has stopped all customers from coming to her shop. Grace Makutsi is pregnant, but does not bring up the fact until late in her pregnancy, nor does she ever bring up the plan for her maternity leave. This gives Mma Ramotswe much to consider while her secretary and assistant is away with the baby. Mr JLB Matekoni contemplates whether he is a modern husband. This novel drew a range of reactions from reviewers. Some viewed it positively, termed it "endearing", and considered the novel to have its strength in the characters and their lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party
''The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party'' is the twelfth mystery novel ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' series by Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ... and first published in 2011. The Motswana Precious Ramotswe is featured as the principal detective. Plot summary Precious Ramotswe is taunted by a dream in which she is driving her old white van. She discovers that her van is fixed up and running well again, so she hopes to retrieve it. Charlie is accused of getting his girlfriend pregnant with twin boys. He feels guilty and runs away. Mma Ramotswe investigates a case of rural jealousy in which cattle are being injured. Violet Sephotho runs for Botswana Parliament which is Botswana's worst nightmare. Reviews Muriel Dobbin found this novel t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Double Comfort Safari Club
''The Double Comfort Safari Club'', published in 2010, is the eleventh in ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Gaborone, Botswana, and featuring the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe. Plot summary Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are called to a safari lodge in Botswana's Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the en ... to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. The Okavango makes Precious appreciate once again the beauty of her homeland: it is a paradise of teeming wildlife, majestic grasslands and sparkling water. However, it is also home to rival safari operators, fearsome crocodiles and disgruntled hippopotamuses. What is more, Mma Makutsi still has not set a date for her wedding to Phut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In The Company Of Cheerful Ladies
''In the Company of Cheerful Ladies'' is the sixth in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Gaborone, Botswana, and featuring the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe. Work and personal worries, and the reappearance of her cruel first husband, threaten the happiness of Mma Ramotswe and her new husband Mr JLB Matekoni. Her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and a new employee to whom Mma Ramotswe has been kind, are determined to repay their debt of gratitude by helping her in their turn. With diligent detective work, her problems are overcome. Mma Makutsi herself finds love at last. The author received recognition for this series in 2004 with the Dagger in the Library from the Crime Writers Association and Author of the Year from British Book Awards. This novel received mixed reviews. One newspaper found the writing to create "an utter and truthful sense of place, of belonging" while another found the story lacking in interest. The first pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Limpopo Academy Of Private Detection
''The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection'' is the thirteenth mystery novel by Alexander McCall Smith in ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' series, first published in 2012. The story is set primarily in Gaborone, with Motswana Precious Ramotswe as the main detective. In this novel, Precious Ramotswe is faced with serious problems among two who are very close to her, Mma Potokwane of the orphan farm and young Fanwell, assistant mechanic in her husband's garage. Besides help from her assistant, Mma Makutsi, both are aided by none other than the author of their well-used handbook on private detection, Clovis Andersen, visiting from America. The Limpopo River marks one border of Botswana and runs near Gaborone; Grace Makutsi suggests that as a name for an academy of private detection when Andersen is their guest for dinner. Reception was generally positive, focussing on the interplay between Mma Ramotswe and the American with his concise summaries of any situation, as well as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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