What do you think?
Rate this book
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #22
Ilon ja valon bussiyhtiö
Mma Ramotswe ja Mma Makutsi ratkovat pulman kuin pulman aseinaan huumori, tahdikkuus ja hyvä tahto.
Mma Ramotswen aviomies osallistuu suurin odotuksin yrittäjäkurssille, mutta se saakin hänet epäilemään menestystään. Epävarmalla hetkellä hän on altis innostumaan vanhan koulutoverinsa liikeideasta, vaikka sen toteuttamiseksi hänen pitäisi laittaa likoon nykyinen autokorjaamonsa. Mma Ramotswe ja Mma Makutsi ovat huolissaan, ja syystä.
Samalla Mma Ramotswea ja hänen Naisten etsivätoimistoaan työllistää kinkkinen kiista vielä elossa olevan herran perinnöstä.
Onneksi tiukimmallakin hetkellä voi turvautua perheen ja ystävien apuun – ja kupilliseen kuumaa rooibos-teetä.
Mma Ramotswen aviomies osallistuu suurin odotuksin yrittäjäkurssille, mutta se saakin hänet epäilemään menestystään. Epävarmalla hetkellä hän on altis innostumaan vanhan koulutoverinsa liikeideasta, vaikka sen toteuttamiseksi hänen pitäisi laittaa likoon nykyinen autokorjaamonsa. Mma Ramotswe ja Mma Makutsi ovat huolissaan, ja syystä.
Samalla Mma Ramotswea ja hänen Naisten etsivätoimistoaan työllistää kinkkinen kiista vielä elossa olevan herran perinnöstä.
Onneksi tiukimmallakin hetkellä voi turvautua perheen ja ystävien apuun – ja kupilliseen kuumaa rooibos-teetä.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2021
647 people are currently reading
2986 people want to read
About the author
Alexander McCall Smith
668 books12.7k followersAlexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,021 reviews
November 13, 2021
I think the title says it all. Who other than Alexander McCall Smith would dream up the name "The Joy and Light Bus Company" which is just so fitting for the atmosphere of this lovely series set in beautiful Botswana.
There are several parallel stories running in this twenty second book in the series, but the most significant is that of Mr. J.L.B. Maketoni's sudden wish to be Director of a bus company which leads him to try to borrow money for the first time ever in his life. Since it will be a mortgage against their family home Mma Ramotswe is horrified and feels she has to resort to slightly underhand methods to prevent it happening.
A lot of things happen along the way but of course in the end everything works out for the best as it always does in this gentle, comfortable series of books. I love them all.
There are several parallel stories running in this twenty second book in the series, but the most significant is that of Mr. J.L.B. Maketoni's sudden wish to be Director of a bus company which leads him to try to borrow money for the first time ever in his life. Since it will be a mortgage against their family home Mma Ramotswe is horrified and feels she has to resort to slightly underhand methods to prevent it happening.
A lot of things happen along the way but of course in the end everything works out for the best as it always does in this gentle, comfortable series of books. I love them all.
December 14, 2021
I wish to express my sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada. I was delighted to receive this ARC in return for an honest review. It is astounding that this is the 22nd book in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, and they always remain fresh and enjoyable and provide food for thought.
Alexander McCall Smith writes with wit, wisdom, and a quiet philosophy of life and friendship. Set in present-day Botswana, MMA. Precious Ramotswe still runs the detective agency along with her good friend Mma. Makutsi. Grace Makutsi was originally hired as a secretary, but she keeps promoting herself under new impressive titles over the years. She now refers to herself as 'Senior co-Managing Director.'
The detective agency hasn't handled any vicious crimes. Rather, clients come to them with aggravating personal problems. Precious Ramotswe handles these with common sense, patience, kindness, and tact. She often has input from her trusted friends, Grace and Mma Patokwane, who runs an orphanage. They have painfully learned that forgiveness and kindness may fail to improve a person's character during an encounter with the wicked Violet.
Their client is a wealthy man who has discovered that his elderly father has left his house in a will to a younger woman who has been his nurse for 10 years. He is dismayed that the evil woman has unduly influenced his father to do so and wants her investigated.
In the meantime, Precious has become very worried about her husband, who runs a car repair business. He attended a business conference where one of the speakers was an old school friend who has become very successful. Her husband started to fret that he was in a dead-end business. Persuaded by his friend, he now dreams of running a bus company in partnership with this old friend. Precious abhors the idea of putting up the garage that includes her detective office as security for a bank loan.
On visiting her friend at the orphanage, Precious learns about two orphaned children, cruelly treated and working as unpaid slaves for a wealthy woman. How she handles this amounts to sheer genius.
When this thought-provoking and compelling book concludes, I am already awaiting the next book in the series. Reading about these charming characters is like visiting old friends.
Alexander McCall Smith writes with wit, wisdom, and a quiet philosophy of life and friendship. Set in present-day Botswana, MMA. Precious Ramotswe still runs the detective agency along with her good friend Mma. Makutsi. Grace Makutsi was originally hired as a secretary, but she keeps promoting herself under new impressive titles over the years. She now refers to herself as 'Senior co-Managing Director.'
The detective agency hasn't handled any vicious crimes. Rather, clients come to them with aggravating personal problems. Precious Ramotswe handles these with common sense, patience, kindness, and tact. She often has input from her trusted friends, Grace and Mma Patokwane, who runs an orphanage. They have painfully learned that forgiveness and kindness may fail to improve a person's character during an encounter with the wicked Violet.
Their client is a wealthy man who has discovered that his elderly father has left his house in a will to a younger woman who has been his nurse for 10 years. He is dismayed that the evil woman has unduly influenced his father to do so and wants her investigated.
In the meantime, Precious has become very worried about her husband, who runs a car repair business. He attended a business conference where one of the speakers was an old school friend who has become very successful. Her husband started to fret that he was in a dead-end business. Persuaded by his friend, he now dreams of running a bus company in partnership with this old friend. Precious abhors the idea of putting up the garage that includes her detective office as security for a bank loan.
On visiting her friend at the orphanage, Precious learns about two orphaned children, cruelly treated and working as unpaid slaves for a wealthy woman. How she handles this amounts to sheer genius.
When this thought-provoking and compelling book concludes, I am already awaiting the next book in the series. Reading about these charming characters is like visiting old friends.
June 23, 2025
4 stars for another book in this gentle mystery series. This is book 22 in the series, and I have read all of the previous books in the series. It would work as a standalone. This book has Precious Ramotswe involved in several issues. A client comes to her to investigate his father who is living with a caretaker woman for 10 years. He has revised his will to leave her the house that they live in. The client believes that his father has been unduly influenced by this woman.
The second issue is when she becomes aware that some wealthy people are using using orphans as slave labor. The third issue is when J.L.B. Matekoni, Precious husband, decides to mortgage his business to invest in a start up bus company.
All three issues are resolved with kindness, a hall mark of this series.
This was a library book.
The second issue is when she becomes aware that some wealthy people are using using orphans as slave labor. The third issue is when J.L.B. Matekoni, Precious husband, decides to mortgage his business to invest in a start up bus company.
All three issues are resolved with kindness, a hall mark of this series.
This was a library book.
December 12, 2021
My 2021 installment of this series. I love being able to reconnect with these kind and gentle people, even Mma Makutsi, who can be snippy a lot of the time, even though she has a good heart. I especially love this series because these books require nothing of me but enjoyment of the story. No matter what the problem or situation, it will be resolved in the end. That's particularly important in the month of December.
Keep them coming, Mr. Smith.
Keep them coming, Mr. Smith.
April 23, 2023
In this 22nd book in the 'No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series - set in Gaborone, Botswana - Mma Precious Ramotswe and her colleague Mma Grace Makutsi address a variety of concerns. These include the new business plans of Mma Ramotswe's husband; modern day slavery; an imperiled inheritance; and more.
The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.
*****
Early in the story Mma Ramotswe's husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.....
.....attends a business seminar where he happens to meet an old acquaintance called Mr. T.K. Molefi. Mr. Matekoni and Mr. Molefi decide to start a bus company that would put Mr. Matekoni's mechanic skills to good use.
The rub is that Mr. Matekoni has to borrow thousands of dollars for the start-up enterprise, and plans to use his business - Tloweng Road Speedy Motors - as collateral. Mma Ramotswe, who fears the bus company will fail, is VERY troubled by the plan and hopes to nip it in the bud.
Whenever Mma Ramotswe is worried, she visits her old friend Mma Potokwane - the director of the Gabarone orphan farm - for advice.
After the ladies converse over tea and fruit cake, Mma Ramotswe learns that a new orphan girl, who arrived with a broken wrist, was forced to work for a wealthy family without pay.
Mma Ramotswe is horrified by this modern slavery, but the rich family is powerful, so Mma Ramotswe must be creative to deal with them.
The detective agency gets a client called Mr. Baboloki Mophephu, who calls for an appointment. When Mr. Mophephu arrives for his consultation, he makes the mistake of calling Mma Makutski a secretary.
Mma Makutski huffily declares she's no secretary, she's the co-managing director - a new title she's bestowed on herself. Over time Mma Makutsi has promoted herself from secretary, to assistant detective, to associate detective, to co-detective, to co-partner.....and up the ladder to co-managing director. 😄
In any case, Mr. Mophephu is concerned about his rich elderly father, whose caregiver may be exerting undue influence - perhaps even planning to marry the old man - for financial gain. This is a delicate situation that requires diplomacy from Mma Ramotswe.
Several recurring characters make an appearance in the book, one of them being beautiful, husband-stealer Violet Sephoto, who's always making trouble.
This time, Mma Makutsi and Mma Potokwane are shopping for groceries when they happen to see Violet open a package of cookies, eat two, and put the rest back. Mma Potokwane is enraged and confronts Violet....with unexpected consequences.
As the story unfolds we also hear from Mma Makutski's 'talking shoes' which are always good for a laugh.
I enjoyed visiting with Mma Ramotswe and her entourage, and its fun to see Mma Ramotswe solve problems in her unique fashion.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
December 14, 2021
I enjoy this series and this particular volume provided a pleasant interlude at what can be a very hectic time of year. It was fun to dip into the lives of characters that I have grown fond of and I always enjoy the descriptions of teatime with cake.
Favorite quote: "In fact, it was hard to think of any situation in which tea was not helpful in the way that only tea could be." As I say, it is always time for tea.
Favorite quote: "In fact, it was hard to think of any situation in which tea was not helpful in the way that only tea could be." As I say, it is always time for tea.
August 30, 2021
I look forward to reading about Mma. Ramotswe's adventures, and this one did not disappoint. Her husband goes to a class on successful businesses, and is talked into mortgaging his garage to invest in his former classmate's business idea, a bus company. Mma. Ramotswe is very unhappy about the idea of debt, but her husband thinks it's a good plan. Other concerns are a client who says a greedy nurse caused his father to change his will, and some children who are being mistreated by a wealthy employer. But never fear, it all works out in the end--one of the reasons these books are so enjoyable. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.
December 3, 2021
Another delightful story from Alexander McCall Smith. In this story Mma Precious Ramotswe makes incorrect assumptions about several people and then learns she is incorrect. Haven’t we all done that at sometime in our life.
The publisher seems to be hunting for a replacement narrator for Lisette Lecat. I think they have succeeded with the narrator of this book, Bianca Amato. She is from South Africa as is Lecat and has that soft lyrical voice and the same pronunciations of names. I cannot wait for the next AMS story with Amato as narrator.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is eight hours and eight minutes. Bianca Amato does an excellent job with the narration.
The publisher seems to be hunting for a replacement narrator for Lisette Lecat. I think they have succeeded with the narrator of this book, Bianca Amato. She is from South Africa as is Lecat and has that soft lyrical voice and the same pronunciations of names. I cannot wait for the next AMS story with Amato as narrator.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is eight hours and eight minutes. Bianca Amato does an excellent job with the narration.
February 11, 2022
Another delightful installment by McCall Smith. I love the gentleness, kindness, and relaxed pace of these books.
April 20, 2022
Smith focuses more attention on Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, owner of Tlokweng Speedy Motors, in this 22nd offering in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni attends a business seminar in Gabarone, connects with T.K. Molefi, a former schoolmate, and the two of them decide to go into business together. However, this would require putting up his garage and Precious Ramotswe’s detective agency as collateral. Yikes! Meanwhile, Grace Makutsi, accepts a case from Mr. Baboloki Mophephu, who suspects that his elderly father’s nurse has manipulated his father into leaving her his house in his will.
Along the way, the two detectives discuss life’s philosophical questions. Another charming tale by Smith.
Along the way, the two detectives discuss life’s philosophical questions. Another charming tale by Smith.
October 1, 2021
“’There is nothing wrong with this bus,’ he said. ‘Or there won’t be, once we have fixed all the things that…’ He floundered, before continuing, ‘… all the things that are wrong with it.’ Then he added, hurriedly, ‘Not that there are all that many things wrong, I think. Just some. Just three or four … or five. Small things, mostly, like brakes and so on.’”
The Joy and Light Bus Company is the twenty-second book in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. Having left a very capable Fanwell in charge of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mr JLB Matekoni attends a business course and returns pensive, eventually sharing that he intends to achieve his full potential. This apparently involves a partnership with an old school friend in a bus company.
What worries Precious Ramotswe most about the scheme is that the necessary bank loan will be taken against the garage and the premises of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Failure of such a risky business venture will impact on them all. (Self-appointed) senior co-managing director of the Agency, Mma Grace Makutsi can see the problem, but understands that “male menopausal behaviour was beyond rational argument”. She promises to enlist Phuti Radiphuti’s help in talking sense into Mr JLB Matekoni.
Precious seeks the wise counsel of her good friend Mma Potokwani at the Orphan Farm, reflecting that “Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people – celebrities – who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom.” Her sound advice is gratefully accepted, even if it does include a recommendation for yoga.
While there, Precious is disturbed by what she learns about one of the newest orphans: there is a suggestion that a well-off family is engaging in a practice long out-lawed. Acting on impulse, she later manages get important information from very close to the source, and cleverly uses a certain woman’s susceptibility to superstition to ensure things are set to rights.
A new client wants Agency to investigate the nurse looking after his elderly father when it emerges that his father has willed her his farm, alleging that the woman has exercised undue influence on the old man. When Precious and Mma Potokwani visit the farm, they tend towards a different conclusion but, heeding Clovis Anderson’s best advice, they reserve judgement. A meeting with the daughters of the family reveals that things are not quite so straightforward.
No instalment in this series is complete without some mention of Mma Makutsi’s nemesis: after witnessing a brazen act of shoplifting by the dreadful Violet Sepotho, attempts to force accountability on her backfire on Mma Potokwani and Precious.
As always, the ladies muse on many topics, including what is required to keep men happy, and Mma Makutsi coins an excellent term for those old-fashioned males who still indulge in sexual discrimination: Past Tense Men.
If you want to know why slugs and beetles in her vegetable garden remind Precious of baboons in the corn, you need to read the book, but that’s no hardship! As always, McCall Smith gives the reader some minor mysteries that don’t tax the brain too much, laced with plenty of gentle philosophy, astute observations and wise words. This author never fails to delight.
The Joy and Light Bus Company is the twenty-second book in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. Having left a very capable Fanwell in charge of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mr JLB Matekoni attends a business course and returns pensive, eventually sharing that he intends to achieve his full potential. This apparently involves a partnership with an old school friend in a bus company.
What worries Precious Ramotswe most about the scheme is that the necessary bank loan will be taken against the garage and the premises of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Failure of such a risky business venture will impact on them all. (Self-appointed) senior co-managing director of the Agency, Mma Grace Makutsi can see the problem, but understands that “male menopausal behaviour was beyond rational argument”. She promises to enlist Phuti Radiphuti’s help in talking sense into Mr JLB Matekoni.
Precious seeks the wise counsel of her good friend Mma Potokwani at the Orphan Farm, reflecting that “Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people – celebrities – who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom.” Her sound advice is gratefully accepted, even if it does include a recommendation for yoga.
While there, Precious is disturbed by what she learns about one of the newest orphans: there is a suggestion that a well-off family is engaging in a practice long out-lawed. Acting on impulse, she later manages get important information from very close to the source, and cleverly uses a certain woman’s susceptibility to superstition to ensure things are set to rights.
A new client wants Agency to investigate the nurse looking after his elderly father when it emerges that his father has willed her his farm, alleging that the woman has exercised undue influence on the old man. When Precious and Mma Potokwani visit the farm, they tend towards a different conclusion but, heeding Clovis Anderson’s best advice, they reserve judgement. A meeting with the daughters of the family reveals that things are not quite so straightforward.
No instalment in this series is complete without some mention of Mma Makutsi’s nemesis: after witnessing a brazen act of shoplifting by the dreadful Violet Sepotho, attempts to force accountability on her backfire on Mma Potokwani and Precious.
As always, the ladies muse on many topics, including what is required to keep men happy, and Mma Makutsi coins an excellent term for those old-fashioned males who still indulge in sexual discrimination: Past Tense Men.
If you want to know why slugs and beetles in her vegetable garden remind Precious of baboons in the corn, you need to read the book, but that’s no hardship! As always, McCall Smith gives the reader some minor mysteries that don’t tax the brain too much, laced with plenty of gentle philosophy, astute observations and wise words. This author never fails to delight.
September 9, 2021
What a joy! Twenty-two books later and I’m still in love with the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Dear Mma Ramotswe
Can you believe it? Twenty-two stories you’ve asked Rra Alexander McCall Smith to share with us over the years! As each one arrives, I wonder, “what new mystery will Mma Ramotswe manage to solve this time?” I wasn’t disappointed. Rra JLB Maketoni wanted to become partners in a bus company. Yo! That was a close shave I think Mma.
Mma Makutsi’s shoes are still talking to her – even you starting to notice it now. And of course, she’s promoted herself!
Once again, your wonderful friend Mma Potokwani helped you through some personal crises and you helped her solve the problem of children working as slaves. What a terrible thing to encounter now Mma. Humans can be so cruel to one another.
Mma Ramotswe, I don’t want to give too many clues away on the story but do want to congratulate Mma Adjoa Andoh for narrating the book. Goodness me Mma! I felt like I was in the room with her while she read the story and she is so clever – she could imitate you, Mma Makutsi, Rra Maketoni and all the other people exactly so that I felt like I was right there. She is brilliant! Especially with Mma Makutsi. Explaining about her shoes and flashing glasses. I could see them Mma – all the way here in England.
I’m sure that you will summon Rra McCall Smith back to Botswana to write another story – please Mma make sure that Mma Anjoa Andoh narrates it? That way I can return to Africa and imagine sitting on the stoep with you while you drink your rooibos tea.
Rony
Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.
‘
Dear Mma Ramotswe
Can you believe it? Twenty-two stories you’ve asked Rra Alexander McCall Smith to share with us over the years! As each one arrives, I wonder, “what new mystery will Mma Ramotswe manage to solve this time?” I wasn’t disappointed. Rra JLB Maketoni wanted to become partners in a bus company. Yo! That was a close shave I think Mma.
Mma Makutsi’s shoes are still talking to her – even you starting to notice it now. And of course, she’s promoted herself!
Once again, your wonderful friend Mma Potokwani helped you through some personal crises and you helped her solve the problem of children working as slaves. What a terrible thing to encounter now Mma. Humans can be so cruel to one another.
Mma Ramotswe, I don’t want to give too many clues away on the story but do want to congratulate Mma Adjoa Andoh for narrating the book. Goodness me Mma! I felt like I was in the room with her while she read the story and she is so clever – she could imitate you, Mma Makutsi, Rra Maketoni and all the other people exactly so that I felt like I was right there. She is brilliant! Especially with Mma Makutsi. Explaining about her shoes and flashing glasses. I could see them Mma – all the way here in England.
I’m sure that you will summon Rra McCall Smith back to Botswana to write another story – please Mma make sure that Mma Anjoa Andoh narrates it? That way I can return to Africa and imagine sitting on the stoep with you while you drink your rooibos tea.
Rony
Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.
‘
November 9, 2021
“Connections with others were what made life bearable…We all need reassurance, she thought. We all need people to tell us that everything is going to be all right, even when it is not, and that we should not worry, even when we clearly need to be concerned about something. We are only human, after all, and that is why reassurance is so important to us. That is undoubtedly well known."
I am not generally fond of cozy mysteries, yet I love this series hard. I told a friend—who works as a therapist—that the #1 Ladies Detective books are the cheapest therapy on the planet, and she agreed.
My great thanks go to Edelweiss and Penguin Random House for the review copy. This charming tale will be for sale November 16, 2021.
As is usual, we have two equally important story lines woven into a single narrative. The detective story has to do with a client—a most unpleasant fellow, but a client, nonetheless—that has come to the agency looking for help with his father’s will. His father is still alive, but not entirely himself anymore, and is planning to leave his valuable home to his nurse. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are enlisted to dig up information about this woman, and to see if anything can be done to reverse his father’s decision. The second storyline concerns Mma Ramotswe’s husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who has decided to invest in a dubious-sounding scheme to turn secondhand buses into a bus service. Mma Ramotswe is horrified, because in order to invest the necessary sum, it will be necessary to take out a bank loan, using the building that houses the businesses—Matekoni’s auto repair, and Ramotswe’s detective agency—as collateral. There’s also a smaller thread involving human trafficking of small children locally, and as usual, it is dealt with tidily and in a most entertaining fashion.
The book begins with Mma Ramotswe wondering what makes men happy. This is a tricky way to start a book, given the current social climate especially. Many readers, women in particular, are sensitive to having a male author write about a female character’s fervent longing to make her husband happy. The internal monologue could use some tightening up here, and that’s unusual for this writer. However, this passage is near the beginning, and once it’s done, the rest of the book more than makes up for it.
What is the alchemy that makes this series so successful? Certainly at the start, there was the novelty. It’s unusual for an English-language series to be set in Botswana, or at least, it was when this one began. But it takes a lot more than that to sustain a series over so many years.
For me, the gentle humor goes a long way. I also appreciate the depth of respect for working people that shines out of every book in this series. Mma Potokwane, who runs the orphan farm and is Mma Ramotswe’s closest friend, reflects on the squabble over the old man’s will. “Rich people are always forgetting that they are only rich because of the work of others. They do not dig their money out of the ground, you know, Mma.”
Also? There are a lot of us out here that are also “traditionally sized,” and we love seeing lovable, successful characters that look, to some extent, like ourselves.
There’s the notion that people are inherently good—try finding that in your average noir detective story—and also, the idea that ordinary people can and should intervene to the best of their ability when they see wrongdoing. “Sometimes those people simply did not see what others could see; sometimes their hands were tied; sometimes they felt threatened. And all of that meant that there were times when it was left to people like them, a private detective and the matron of an orphan farm, to do what had to be done.”
This story, however, is singular in that both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi manage their husbands through deception. Grace Makutsi reveals that she gets her husband, Phuti, to take his vitamins by stirring them into his breakfast tea without telling him. Precious Ramotswe, when unable to persuade Matekoni not to apply for the bank loan, sneaks around behind his back, looking for a way to kill the deal without his knowing it. Neither of these things leads to marital disaster, yet I find myself wondering whether these things may come back on them in a future installment.
The fact that I find myself feeling concerned about the marriages of two women that are fictional, fictional, fictional says a great deal about Smith’s capacity to develop characters with depth and breadth.
I can talk about this series, and these characters, and this book all day. I’ve already come close to it. But the best way for you to appreciate it is to get this book. It comes out in a week, so I suggest you order a copy now. Highly recommended.
I am not generally fond of cozy mysteries, yet I love this series hard. I told a friend—who works as a therapist—that the #1 Ladies Detective books are the cheapest therapy on the planet, and she agreed.
My great thanks go to Edelweiss and Penguin Random House for the review copy. This charming tale will be for sale November 16, 2021.
As is usual, we have two equally important story lines woven into a single narrative. The detective story has to do with a client—a most unpleasant fellow, but a client, nonetheless—that has come to the agency looking for help with his father’s will. His father is still alive, but not entirely himself anymore, and is planning to leave his valuable home to his nurse. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are enlisted to dig up information about this woman, and to see if anything can be done to reverse his father’s decision. The second storyline concerns Mma Ramotswe’s husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who has decided to invest in a dubious-sounding scheme to turn secondhand buses into a bus service. Mma Ramotswe is horrified, because in order to invest the necessary sum, it will be necessary to take out a bank loan, using the building that houses the businesses—Matekoni’s auto repair, and Ramotswe’s detective agency—as collateral. There’s also a smaller thread involving human trafficking of small children locally, and as usual, it is dealt with tidily and in a most entertaining fashion.
The book begins with Mma Ramotswe wondering what makes men happy. This is a tricky way to start a book, given the current social climate especially. Many readers, women in particular, are sensitive to having a male author write about a female character’s fervent longing to make her husband happy. The internal monologue could use some tightening up here, and that’s unusual for this writer. However, this passage is near the beginning, and once it’s done, the rest of the book more than makes up for it.
What is the alchemy that makes this series so successful? Certainly at the start, there was the novelty. It’s unusual for an English-language series to be set in Botswana, or at least, it was when this one began. But it takes a lot more than that to sustain a series over so many years.
For me, the gentle humor goes a long way. I also appreciate the depth of respect for working people that shines out of every book in this series. Mma Potokwane, who runs the orphan farm and is Mma Ramotswe’s closest friend, reflects on the squabble over the old man’s will. “Rich people are always forgetting that they are only rich because of the work of others. They do not dig their money out of the ground, you know, Mma.”
Also? There are a lot of us out here that are also “traditionally sized,” and we love seeing lovable, successful characters that look, to some extent, like ourselves.
There’s the notion that people are inherently good—try finding that in your average noir detective story—and also, the idea that ordinary people can and should intervene to the best of their ability when they see wrongdoing. “Sometimes those people simply did not see what others could see; sometimes their hands were tied; sometimes they felt threatened. And all of that meant that there were times when it was left to people like them, a private detective and the matron of an orphan farm, to do what had to be done.”
This story, however, is singular in that both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi manage their husbands through deception. Grace Makutsi reveals that she gets her husband, Phuti, to take his vitamins by stirring them into his breakfast tea without telling him. Precious Ramotswe, when unable to persuade Matekoni not to apply for the bank loan, sneaks around behind his back, looking for a way to kill the deal without his knowing it. Neither of these things leads to marital disaster, yet I find myself wondering whether these things may come back on them in a future installment.
The fact that I find myself feeling concerned about the marriages of two women that are fictional, fictional, fictional says a great deal about Smith’s capacity to develop characters with depth and breadth.
I can talk about this series, and these characters, and this book all day. I’ve already come close to it. But the best way for you to appreciate it is to get this book. It comes out in a week, so I suggest you order a copy now. Highly recommended.
August 28, 2022
I started reading this series as soon as it was published—1998–because I’m always on the lookout for crime novels set in Africa. I purchased the first six books, and then read the next five as soon as they appeared in the library. Then I stopped, although I did read up a couple more library books from the set. But they were no longer interesting, and more important, they no longer had anything to do with current African culture.
From the beginning, the No 1. Ladies’ Detective Agency was a reminiscence about a traditional colonial African experience; a reminiscent about a world that used to exist—a least in the eyes of a white man who enjoyed interacting with local people. It bore a passing resemblance to the African experience in a small, peaceful area of Africa.
THE JOY AND LIGHT BUS COMPANY was available as an ebook from my library and I decided to see if anything had changed. It hadn’t. Mma Ramotswe, Mna Makutsi, and Mma Potokwane are still investigating small personal problems, and still dispensing wisdom and tact while doing so. Violet Sephona is still carrying out outrageous activities. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is still floundering as men sometimes do. Except for a brief interlude about unpaid orphan slaves, which Mma Ramotswe solves, all the events in the stories could have occurred the author’s native Scotland. And unfortunately orphan slaves occur in many parts of the world besides Africa.
Alexander McCall Smith needs to retire this series. If he wants to support true African literature, he should support the written matter that is coming from those who actually live there.
From the beginning, the No 1. Ladies’ Detective Agency was a reminiscence about a traditional colonial African experience; a reminiscent about a world that used to exist—a least in the eyes of a white man who enjoyed interacting with local people. It bore a passing resemblance to the African experience in a small, peaceful area of Africa.
THE JOY AND LIGHT BUS COMPANY was available as an ebook from my library and I decided to see if anything had changed. It hadn’t. Mma Ramotswe, Mna Makutsi, and Mma Potokwane are still investigating small personal problems, and still dispensing wisdom and tact while doing so. Violet Sephona is still carrying out outrageous activities. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is still floundering as men sometimes do. Except for a brief interlude about unpaid orphan slaves, which Mma Ramotswe solves, all the events in the stories could have occurred the author’s native Scotland. And unfortunately orphan slaves occur in many parts of the world besides Africa.
Alexander McCall Smith needs to retire this series. If he wants to support true African literature, he should support the written matter that is coming from those who actually live there.
November 28, 2021
As always, the setting of this latest in the #1 Ladies Detective series in Botswana is an escape for all non-Botswana readers. Seldom has an author made a foreign country and its people sound so attractive.
Traditional mystery and thriller readers may find the pace too slow with way too much interior, contemplative monologue; however, Alexander McCall Smith in many places is expert at conveying a great deal within a short description.
Strongly recommended to other readers of this series.
Traditional mystery and thriller readers may find the pace too slow with way too much interior, contemplative monologue; however, Alexander McCall Smith in many places is expert at conveying a great deal within a short description.
Strongly recommended to other readers of this series.
March 15, 2022
This is a series for sensitive souls. Do you appreciate lines like this?
This is the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective series, and I loved it, as I love all of these books. They call it a mystery series, but no one gets killed. Mma Ramotswe, the main character, investigates people’s problems and attempts to make things better. She changes her small piece of the world for the better, in each volume.
In the series, you will frequently laugh, every now and then you may shed a tear, but you will always feel better at the end of the book than you did when you picked it up. Everything isn’t perfect and it’s not as though nothing bad ever happens, but there is justice in Mma Ramotswe’s world. Karma usually catches up with the villains, and Mma Ramotswe and her friends band together to help the rest.
It’s a reliably great set of books that get better with each reread; it’s just that simple. The audio narrator was the same for the first twenty books. She must have retired, which broke my heart at first because she was so wonderful, changing voices for each character and getting their personalities absolutely perfect in each performance. For book 21, the person was not good, and I don’t recommend listening to that one. In this one, Recorded Books once again found a good narrator. She is no Lisette Lecat, because that would be impossible, but I will once again look forward to not only reading, but listening to, the books that follow.
AMS, may God continue to bless your mind, your pen, your typewriter, laptop, tablet and any other devices you use to concoct these tales. The whole world loves you, and your wonderful stories.
Any time you need a comfort read, try this series. It’s very long and still being written, so you’ll always have a reliable series to fall back on during challenging times.
Once under the shade of the tree, she seated herself on one of the rocks and looked about her appreciatively. She liked sitting like this, close to the earth, close to the very soil of her beloved Botswana. Here, unmediated by any structures contrived by man, you might see and feel what the land was trying to say to you. Please send me rain, please do not cover me with concrete, please be gentle in how you walk across my surface… And all of these messages would be whispered against the background of screeching cicadas and all the other sounds made by the tiny creatures with whom we shared the world.
This is the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective series, and I loved it, as I love all of these books. They call it a mystery series, but no one gets killed. Mma Ramotswe, the main character, investigates people’s problems and attempts to make things better. She changes her small piece of the world for the better, in each volume.
In the series, you will frequently laugh, every now and then you may shed a tear, but you will always feel better at the end of the book than you did when you picked it up. Everything isn’t perfect and it’s not as though nothing bad ever happens, but there is justice in Mma Ramotswe’s world. Karma usually catches up with the villains, and Mma Ramotswe and her friends band together to help the rest.
It’s a reliably great set of books that get better with each reread; it’s just that simple. The audio narrator was the same for the first twenty books. She must have retired, which broke my heart at first because she was so wonderful, changing voices for each character and getting their personalities absolutely perfect in each performance. For book 21, the person was not good, and I don’t recommend listening to that one. In this one, Recorded Books once again found a good narrator. She is no Lisette Lecat, because that would be impossible, but I will once again look forward to not only reading, but listening to, the books that follow.
AMS, may God continue to bless your mind, your pen, your typewriter, laptop, tablet and any other devices you use to concoct these tales. The whole world loves you, and your wonderful stories.
Any time you need a comfort read, try this series. It’s very long and still being written, so you’ll always have a reliable series to fall back on during challenging times.
November 24, 2021
Very disappointed. Less substance than usual, amd Ma Ramotswe said The Adam and Eve story is not to be taken literally! Out of character.
November 5, 2021
“’There is nothing wrong with this bus,’ he said. ‘Or there won’t be, once we have fixed all the things that…’ He floundered, before continuing, ‘… all the things that are wrong with it.’ Then he added, hurriedly, ‘Not that there are all that many things wrong, I think. Just some. Just three or four … or five. Small things, mostly, like brakes and so on.’”
The Joy and Light Bus Company is the twenty-second book in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. The audio version is narrated by Adjoa Andoh. Having left a very capable Fanwell in charge of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mr JLB Matekoni attends a business course and returns pensive, eventually sharing that he intends to achieve his full potential. This apparently involves a partnership with an old school friend in a bus company.
What worries Precious Ramotswe most about the scheme is that the necessary bank loan will be taken against the garage and the premises of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Failure of such a risky business venture will impact on them all. (Self-appointed) senior co-managing director of the Agency, Mma Grace Makutsi can see the problem, but understands that “male menopausal behaviour was beyond rational argument”. She promises to enlist Phuti Radiphuti’s help in talking sense into Mr JLB Matekoni.
Precious seeks the wise counsel of her good friend Mma Potokwani at the Orphan Farm, reflecting that “Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people – celebrities – who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom.” Her sound advice is gratefully accepted, even if it does include a recommendation for yoga.
While there, Precious is disturbed by what she learns about one of the newest orphans: there is a suggestion that a well-off family is engaging in a practice long out-lawed. Acting on impulse, she later manages get important information from very close to the source, and cleverly uses a certain woman’s susceptibility to superstition to ensure things are set to rights.
A new client wants Agency to investigate the nurse looking after his elderly father when it emerges that his father has willed her his farm, alleging that the woman has exercised undue influence on the old man. When Precious and Mma Potokwani visit the farm, they tend towards a different conclusion but, heeding Clovis Anderson’s best advice, they reserve judgement. A meeting with the daughters of the family reveals that things are not quite so straightforward.
No instalment in this series is complete without some mention of Mma Makutsi’s nemesis: after witnessing a brazen act of shoplifting by the dreadful Violet Sepotho, attempts to force accountability on her backfire on Mma Potokwani and Precious.
As always, the ladies muse on many topics, including what is required to keep men happy, and Mma Makutsi coins an excellent term for those old-fashioned males who still indulge in sexual discrimination: Past Tense Men.
If you want to know why slugs and beetles in her vegetable garden remind Precious of baboons in the corn, you need to read the book, but that’s no hardship! As always, McCall Smith gives the reader some minor mysteries that don’t tax the brain too much, laced with plenty of gentle philosophy, astute observations and wise words. This author never fails to delight.
The Joy and Light Bus Company is the twenty-second book in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. The audio version is narrated by Adjoa Andoh. Having left a very capable Fanwell in charge of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mr JLB Matekoni attends a business course and returns pensive, eventually sharing that he intends to achieve his full potential. This apparently involves a partnership with an old school friend in a bus company.
What worries Precious Ramotswe most about the scheme is that the necessary bank loan will be taken against the garage and the premises of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Failure of such a risky business venture will impact on them all. (Self-appointed) senior co-managing director of the Agency, Mma Grace Makutsi can see the problem, but understands that “male menopausal behaviour was beyond rational argument”. She promises to enlist Phuti Radiphuti’s help in talking sense into Mr JLB Matekoni.
Precious seeks the wise counsel of her good friend Mma Potokwani at the Orphan Farm, reflecting that “Wise people had been replaced in the public estimation by that curious category of people – celebrities – who were, for the most part, shallow people not known for their wisdom.” Her sound advice is gratefully accepted, even if it does include a recommendation for yoga.
While there, Precious is disturbed by what she learns about one of the newest orphans: there is a suggestion that a well-off family is engaging in a practice long out-lawed. Acting on impulse, she later manages get important information from very close to the source, and cleverly uses a certain woman’s susceptibility to superstition to ensure things are set to rights.
A new client wants Agency to investigate the nurse looking after his elderly father when it emerges that his father has willed her his farm, alleging that the woman has exercised undue influence on the old man. When Precious and Mma Potokwani visit the farm, they tend towards a different conclusion but, heeding Clovis Anderson’s best advice, they reserve judgement. A meeting with the daughters of the family reveals that things are not quite so straightforward.
No instalment in this series is complete without some mention of Mma Makutsi’s nemesis: after witnessing a brazen act of shoplifting by the dreadful Violet Sepotho, attempts to force accountability on her backfire on Mma Potokwani and Precious.
As always, the ladies muse on many topics, including what is required to keep men happy, and Mma Makutsi coins an excellent term for those old-fashioned males who still indulge in sexual discrimination: Past Tense Men.
If you want to know why slugs and beetles in her vegetable garden remind Precious of baboons in the corn, you need to read the book, but that’s no hardship! As always, McCall Smith gives the reader some minor mysteries that don’t tax the brain too much, laced with plenty of gentle philosophy, astute observations and wise words. This author never fails to delight.
October 4, 2021
The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith is the latest addition to the wonderful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Once again, we are transported to Botswana where Mma Ramotswe is peacefully going about her business of bringing justice to those in her community. This time around, Precious and Mma Makutsi follow up on a complaint from a son who is concerned that his father is planning to leave a large inheritance to the woman who has cared for him for the past decade. While the team investigate the complaint, Precious must also deal with Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's plans to pursue a new business venture with an old friend.
As always, there is lots happening in the small community, but Mma Ramotswe can unfailingly be relied upon to be the voice of reason and patience in an increasingly chaotic world. I must say that I enjoy these characters immensely, and twenty-two books in they feel like old and treasured friends. These stories bring light and joy, and are simply a delightful escape that I will indulge in at any given opportunity.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC.
As always, there is lots happening in the small community, but Mma Ramotswe can unfailingly be relied upon to be the voice of reason and patience in an increasingly chaotic world. I must say that I enjoy these characters immensely, and twenty-two books in they feel like old and treasured friends. These stories bring light and joy, and are simply a delightful escape that I will indulge in at any given opportunity.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC.
February 3, 2023
Another lovely instalment of this series. I once heard these books described as ‘like a long, cool glass of water on a hot day’. So nice to revisit these characters, a few warm laughs and all the goodness of Precious Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.
October 1, 2025
Smith increasingly ruins these detective stories by taking the characters who were charming, interesting and believed in traditional Botswana culture and laces their dialogues with progressive European ideologies. Forget the virtue signaling and let us enjoy your original characters.
February 20, 2023
#22 in my happy place series was definitely one that stood out for me. Mma Ramotswe was at her best with her gentle ways of handling the stresses on her relationships. Rra Matekoni has decided to leverage the business and the building to get a loan and start the eponymous bus company. Mma Makutsi wants to intervene. Their case focuses on strained family relationships. And Precious Ramotswe rises above it all with grace and poise to find the right solution. And I was once again transported to my happy place. I loved it.
January 3, 2022
Dude has completely run out of ideas. He needs to give it a rest.
January 1, 2022
Mr JLB Matekoni, husband of Number One Ladies’ Detective agency proprietor Mma Precious Ramotswe, is feeling uncertain about the future of his business, leading to a possible risky course of action. In the meantime, the detective ladies Ramotswe and Makutsi are hired to investigate an issue of the nurse of an elderly man being named to inherit his family home.
No matter the obstacles faced in each of these novels, things are eventually put right and one comes away with a feeling of peaceful wellbeing… a great way to end a year and start another!
No matter the obstacles faced in each of these novels, things are eventually put right and one comes away with a feeling of peaceful wellbeing… a great way to end a year and start another!
October 20, 2023
I love revisiting these characters! Book 22 and they just continue to grow on me. Not too much of any unsolved mysteries with this one, but it’s still a pleasant story. At this point, the series is more of a comfort read.
December 22, 2021
This one was just okay. I felt the "mysteries" were not what I have come to expect and the way they were solved was not satisfying at all. I am hoping that Violet will get her comeuppance soon.
November 13, 2024
One of the best of the recent volumes in this series.
January 17, 2022
Yet another wonderful entry in this series. But there was an outstanding question: How did T.K. Molefi know who Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi were? (There is one other related loose end, but it would be a spoiler.) Smith usually explains everything and ties up all loose ends, so I found this a bit disconcerting.
In this installment, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni attends a seminar on business and gets an offer he seemingly can't refuse. But this offer could affect Mma Ramotswe and their financial well being. So naturally Mma Makutsi springs into action.
In another plot line, their client, Mr. Baboloki Mophephu, has come to them because he is concerned that his very wealthy father, Mr. Fidelis Mophephu, has left his farm and farmhouse to his long-time nurse. The son suspects undue influence and wants the agency to investigate. But both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are wary because of their instinctual dislike of their client. It's a lot of fun to follow their investigation and the creative solution that emerges.
Finally, while visiting Mma Potokwame at the Orphan Farm, Mma Ramotswe hears about what amounts to domestic slavery. Can she help?
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
In this installment, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni attends a seminar on business and gets an offer he seemingly can't refuse. But this offer could affect Mma Ramotswe and their financial well being. So naturally Mma Makutsi springs into action.
In another plot line, their client, Mr. Baboloki Mophephu, has come to them because he is concerned that his very wealthy father, Mr. Fidelis Mophephu, has left his farm and farmhouse to his long-time nurse. The son suspects undue influence and wants the agency to investigate. But both Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are wary because of their instinctual dislike of their client. It's a lot of fun to follow their investigation and the creative solution that emerges.
Finally, while visiting Mma Potokwame at the Orphan Farm, Mma Ramotswe hears about what amounts to domestic slavery. Can she help?
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
December 21, 2022
The perfect book to accompany wrapping presents and baking cookies. Of all of AMS's many book series, No. 1 Ladies will always be my favorite. He transports us to Botswana, where things are not perfect, but they are unhurried. And all that is needed to be content is a steaming cup of bush tea.
This book focuses on the mechanic, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. He is a good man, a kind man, a dependable man. He takes a literal approach to much of life. When at a business seminar, hearing about "networking" (<- about which he is clueless) he is worried that there may not be time to eat lunch. How long does it take to network?
I started pulling my hair out when Book 21 of this series had a different narrator than the magnificent Lisette Lecat. Bianca Amato narrated this one and — blessedly — her narration is indistinguishable from Lecat's. A good narration is of inestimable worth. We readers sure can get picky can't we? :)
This book focuses on the mechanic, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. He is a good man, a kind man, a dependable man. He takes a literal approach to much of life. When at a business seminar, hearing about "networking" (<- about which he is clueless) he is worried that there may not be time to eat lunch. How long does it take to network?
I started pulling my hair out when Book 21 of this series had a different narrator than the magnificent Lisette Lecat. Bianca Amato narrated this one and — blessedly — her narration is indistinguishable from Lecat's. A good narration is of inestimable worth. We readers sure can get picky can't we? :)
November 27, 2023
I love going back to Botswana with these endearing and entertaining characters, especially Precious and Grace, and finding comfort in interesting settings and their laidback way of life! These are all cozy and enjoyable reads. Perfect.
“A firefly came into view against the warm darkness. Then it went off, darting and dipping erratically -- out into the night, a tiny pinpoint of light, which, at the end of the day, is all that is needed.”
��That, of course, is always a good time to think—when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.”
“There is no need to be unkind to people who are unhappy inside themselves. There is room for everyone. Everyone should be able to find somewhere on this earth to sit down.”
“The important thing is to carry on doing what you’re doing,’ she said. ‘And not to do what you think other people think you should do. You should do what you do as well as you possibly can.”
“A firefly came into view against the warm darkness. Then it went off, darting and dipping erratically -- out into the night, a tiny pinpoint of light, which, at the end of the day, is all that is needed.”
��That, of course, is always a good time to think—when you know that you are going to have to do something, but you know that you do not have to do it just yet.”
“There is no need to be unkind to people who are unhappy inside themselves. There is room for everyone. Everyone should be able to find somewhere on this earth to sit down.”
“The important thing is to carry on doing what you’re doing,’ she said. ‘And not to do what you think other people think you should do. You should do what you do as well as you possibly can.”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,021 reviews