Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Review: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher/Format: Recorded Books,2011, 8 1/2 hrs, 224 pg equivalent
Characters: Mme Precious Ramotswe, Mme Grace Makutsi, Phuti Rhadiphuti, Charlie the apprentice and Mr. J.L.B. Matakone
Subject: Ongoing detective adventures of Mme's Ramotswe; Grace and Phuti's wedding plans
Setting: Gabarone Botswana
Series: No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
Genre: cozy mystery
Source: public library

This series never fails.  At first I thought the story had no where else to go, but McCall Smith continues to delight us with new adventures and more mysteries to solve.  In addition, he sustains the character development so that by now we have become well acquainted with the primary players, and are finally beginning to get to know some of the lesser characters from previous episodes.  In this story, there is really only one piece of detective work going on, but Mme Ramotswe is also sleuthing to find her long dead (and she thought buried) little white van.  The sighting of this vehicle first by her, and then by Grace injects a note of mystery and an ultimate dilemma about what to do if it really still exists.

Charlie has some personal problems to deal with and Grace is going to make sure he deals with them in the correct manner. Throughout the entire book, the plans for the wedding proceed and the reader begins to wonder if in fact Grace Matkusi will ever become Mme Phuti Rhadiphuti.  I won't spoil the ending for you.

Fans of the series will love this one.  Those who have not read any others in the series would probably do well to read at least one or two of the previous -- there are 10 altogether-- to get the most fun from this one.

3 comments:

  1. Have read a few of these and enjoyed them. Glad you like the newest ones!
    Book Dilettante

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  2. I have only read the first book in this series. I liked it...and not sure why I read on more. just so many books to be read...

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  3. I've been meaning to read this series for so long, and every time I read a review about one of the books in the series, I always think, I really should get going on this one! They sound like great reads, all of them. I really like McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series, so I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to get to this one.

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Welcome, thanks for stopping by. Now that you've heard our two cents, perhaps you have a few pennies to throw into the discussion. Due to a bunch more anonymous spam getting through, I've had to disallow anonymous comments. I try to respond to all comments posing a question, but may not always get to you right away.