Precious Ramotswe has several more cases to work on in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana. Her good people skills lead to satisfactory outPrecious Ramotswe has several more cases to work on in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana. Her good people skills lead to satisfactory outcomes for everyone.
Her assistant, Mma. Makutsi, opens an evening typing school for men. In addition to bringing in extra income to help support her relatives, she's hoping for an opportunity to meet an eligible man.
This charming cozy series has a good sense of place since the author lived in Botswana for many years. Mma. Ramotswe again treats her friends and her clients with warmth and fairness....more
Leaving Time tells about coping with loss and grieving in the human and animal worlds. Jenna Metcalf is a precocious teenager searching for her motherLeaving Time tells about coping with loss and grieving in the human and animal worlds. Jenna Metcalf is a precocious teenager searching for her mother who disappeared ten years ago after a coworker was trampled to death at an elephant refuge. Her father cannot help her since he has been residing at a psychiatric hospital since that day. Jenna lives with her grandmother who does not want to talk about her mother. Jenna felt that her mother had loved her, so she can't understand why she left Jenna behind. She enlists the help of Serenity, a psychic, and Virgil, an ex-cop turned private detective with a taste for alcohol.
Jenna's mother was Alice, an elephant researcher in Botswana, who was studying grief in elephants. Alice married Thomas Metcalf who managed the New England Elephant Sanctuary in New Hampshire which cared for older, abused elephants from zoos and circuses. After Jenna was born, Thomas began to show signs of mental illness and Alice feared for her safety.
The information about elephants is based on actual research done in Africa, and at an elephant refuge in Tennessee. The elephants treat their deceased with reverence, keeping a vigil for days and covering them with leaves and branches. There is truth to the phrase, "an elephant never forgets", and they undergo a long grieving process. There is a lifelong strong maternal bond between the mother and her calf. In Alice's voice, information is also related about elephant poachers who kill them for their valuable ivory tusks.
The story is told through multiple points of view with many flashbacks. The themes of the maternal bond and grief run through the book. The investigation of Alice's disappearance by Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil has a paranormal element, and a bit of comedy between the wisecracking psychic and the sarcastic detective. The author blends all these elements together fairly well, and tops it off with a good twist at the end. ...more
Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi have another bunch of cases to investigate, and many observations to make about life. As usual, Mme Ramotswe reliePrecious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi have another bunch of cases to investigate, and many observations to make about life. As usual, Mme Ramotswe relies quite a bit on her intuition and common sense. The book is enjoyable, warm, and gently humorous. The author shows a good understanding of human nature, and a love of Botswana....more
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