The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

by Alexander McCall Smith

I hope everyone has taken the opportunity to read or, better yet, to listen to at least one book in this thirteen-book series.  I've read two so far and listened to many more.  My husband and I have listened to 5 or 6 of them and get so tickled at conversations and laid-back philosophy of Precious Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi.  We always try to say Mma the way the reader does and can never get it quite right but we keep trying.  I noticed reading this one that I still stopped occasionally and tried to say it.  If you haven't listened to one in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, you need too.

Don't expect a fast-paced, white knuckle mystery or even a regular cozy.  Throw all expectations out the window and just let the story and the characters gently pull you in to a delightful reading experience.


I especially like the part where Mma Ramotske reflected on the good that comes from families eating dinner together around the table.  Sadly, as I looked through my highlights, I did not mark those thoughts.  I did highlight this passage that's quite an acute observation:

 "The big mistake is to close your eyes.  There are so many who have closed eyes.  You look at them, of course, and you think that they have open eyes, but then you look more closely and you realise that although their eyes are open, there is nothing going in."

I was happy to be inside this book and meeting again with the delightful characters over a cup of bush tea.  Speaking of tea, there's a fun conversation between Mma Ramotske and Mma Matkutsi about how much tea they drink in a day, a week and a year.  It made me feel a bit water-logged.  

** I received a free copy of TheLimpopo Academy of Private Detection from Random House of Canada and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received.