Spoilers.
I had first seen The Kalahari Typing School for Men several months ago among the audiobooks at the Covina Public Library. I didn’t read it yet because I read on the cover that it was part of a series that begins with The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, that’s also the name of the series. The Covina Public Library had this audiobook in circulation and I waited for it to become available. For a while it was listed as checked out and later it was listed as lost. I needed an audiobook to help get some tedious chores done so I decided to forego my regular tendency to read mystery series in order and read Kalahari Typing School. Like all the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books it’s written by Alexander McCall Smith who’s from Scotland and I believe he teaches at either a law school or a school of criminology. I also had heard that this series was made into a BBC TV Series and was shown on HBO.
Like the other books in the series, The Kalahari Typing School for Men takes place in Gaborone, the capital of the African nation of Botswana. The main character is Ma Ramotswe, detective and owner of The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. Other major characters include Ma Macutsi, assistant detective at the agency; Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Ma Ramotswe’s fiancée and owner and chief mechanic of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors; and his two apprentices. I believe that they recur throughout the series along with some other minor characters. Everyone refers to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni by his long formal title, even Ma Ramotswe. The book teaches much about Botswana and the customs there. It’s a country of around 2 million people that, unlike most African countries, never suffered through any dictatorship phase after gaining independence from colonial rule in the 1960’s. Ma Ramotswe remarks how the people of Botswana have long been good, polite people, though that may be changing with the next generation. She thinks about how the people of Botswana aren’t like the wild Swazis or the aggressive Zulus. In Botswana people refer to each other as “Ma” for Ms. and ma’am or “Ra” for Mr. and sir. They also refer to someone who has died as “late”, like most of us do. However, when asking if someone has died, a character asks, “Is she late?”
The mysteries turn out to be simply elements in the lives of the main characters among the other things going on. The title of the book is a business venture started by Ma Macutsi. She went to the Botswana Secretarial College and got the highest score on the final exam in the school’s history: 97%. Despite this she originally had a harder time finding a job than her lower-scoring but prettier classmates. The story also includes the characters’ love lives, lives at home, and friends. One plot line involves the opening of a rival detective agency that stresses that it is owned and operated by a man. It’s called the “Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency” and has the tagline “Ex-CID, (the South African policy force?), Ex-New York (the proprietor lived in there for a short time), Excellent”.
There is a lot of humor in the book. The story is rather light and relaxing. The mysteries mostly involved finding people from the past and checking up on a possible errant husband. There’s no murder or real crimes committed other than minor ones in the past. They’re very tame compared to the police procedural mysteries that I normally read. The book proceeds at a very leisurely pace and ultimately everything is resolved to nearly all the characters’ satisfaction.
McCall-Smith includes in the book some interesting points. During Ma Macutsi’s typing lesson she asks a student to type an essay about “the most important things in your life.” What a great topic for a general essay. Students write about their families and their favorite sports teams. Lots of Ma Ramotswe’s thoughts are revealed as she takes care of her foster orphans and works on her cases. She ponders how schools are like prisons where children are forced to be there and the older children and bullies dominate. When researching the background of someone she’s trying to find, she reflects how people’s lives are fragile and her just a few words from another can change the whole course of someone’s life.
The audiobook is read by the actress Lisette Lecat who has a slight but very understandable African accent. She gives slightly different voices to the different characters, just enough to distinguish them. I enjoyed the book despite the mysteries not being the major focus. It’s definitely a change from the usual mysteries I read since it has a female detective and takes place in Botswana. I consider it more escapist fiction than the compelling suspense of most mysteries I read. There are many books in the series and I think The Kalahari Typing School for Men is the third or fourth installment. A few of the others are audiobooks at the Covina Library. Maybe I’ll check them out the next time I want some light reading.
I had first seen The Kalahari Typing School for Men several months ago among the audiobooks at the Covina Public Library. I didn’t read it yet because I read on the cover that it was part of a series that begins with The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, that’s also the name of the series. The Covina Public Library had this audiobook in circulation and I waited for it to become available. For a while it was listed as checked out and later it was listed as lost. I needed an audiobook to help get some tedious chores done so I decided to forego my regular tendency to read mystery series in order and read Kalahari Typing School. Like all the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books it’s written by Alexander McCall Smith who’s from Scotland and I believe he teaches at either a law school or a school of criminology. I also had heard that this series was made into a BBC TV Series and was shown on HBO.
Like the other books in the series, The Kalahari Typing School for Men takes place in Gaborone, the capital of the African nation of Botswana. The main character is Ma Ramotswe, detective and owner of The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. Other major characters include Ma Macutsi, assistant detective at the agency; Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Ma Ramotswe’s fiancée and owner and chief mechanic of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors; and his two apprentices. I believe that they recur throughout the series along with some other minor characters. Everyone refers to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni by his long formal title, even Ma Ramotswe. The book teaches much about Botswana and the customs there. It’s a country of around 2 million people that, unlike most African countries, never suffered through any dictatorship phase after gaining independence from colonial rule in the 1960’s. Ma Ramotswe remarks how the people of Botswana have long been good, polite people, though that may be changing with the next generation. She thinks about how the people of Botswana aren’t like the wild Swazis or the aggressive Zulus. In Botswana people refer to each other as “Ma” for Ms. and ma’am or “Ra” for Mr. and sir. They also refer to someone who has died as “late”, like most of us do. However, when asking if someone has died, a character asks, “Is she late?”
The mysteries turn out to be simply elements in the lives of the main characters among the other things going on. The title of the book is a business venture started by Ma Macutsi. She went to the Botswana Secretarial College and got the highest score on the final exam in the school’s history: 97%. Despite this she originally had a harder time finding a job than her lower-scoring but prettier classmates. The story also includes the characters’ love lives, lives at home, and friends. One plot line involves the opening of a rival detective agency that stresses that it is owned and operated by a man. It’s called the “Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency” and has the tagline “Ex-CID, (the South African policy force?), Ex-New York (the proprietor lived in there for a short time), Excellent”.
There is a lot of humor in the book. The story is rather light and relaxing. The mysteries mostly involved finding people from the past and checking up on a possible errant husband. There’s no murder or real crimes committed other than minor ones in the past. They’re very tame compared to the police procedural mysteries that I normally read. The book proceeds at a very leisurely pace and ultimately everything is resolved to nearly all the characters’ satisfaction.
McCall-Smith includes in the book some interesting points. During Ma Macutsi’s typing lesson she asks a student to type an essay about “the most important things in your life.” What a great topic for a general essay. Students write about their families and their favorite sports teams. Lots of Ma Ramotswe’s thoughts are revealed as she takes care of her foster orphans and works on her cases. She ponders how schools are like prisons where children are forced to be there and the older children and bullies dominate. When researching the background of someone she’s trying to find, she reflects how people’s lives are fragile and her just a few words from another can change the whole course of someone’s life.
The audiobook is read by the actress Lisette Lecat who has a slight but very understandable African accent. She gives slightly different voices to the different characters, just enough to distinguish them. I enjoyed the book despite the mysteries not being the major focus. It’s definitely a change from the usual mysteries I read since it has a female detective and takes place in Botswana. I consider it more escapist fiction than the compelling suspense of most mysteries I read. There are many books in the series and I think The Kalahari Typing School for Men is the third or fourth installment. A few of the others are audiobooks at the Covina Library. Maybe I’ll check them out the next time I want some light reading.
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