The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998) is the first novel in the series of the same name written by British author Alexander McCall Smith. It follows the career of Precious Ramotswe, the fictionalized first female private detective in Botswana, as she solves mysteries for her friends and neighbors. Throughout the novel, McCall Smith draws on his childhood in Zimbabwe (bordering Botswana); he was born into a family of white British administrators under the British colonial rule of what was then Southern Rhodesia and moved to Scotland at age 17. His later career at the University of Botswana (from 1981) has influenced his evocative portraits of contemporary African life and landscapes. The novel features themes of national pride and the tensions between past and present, and highlights the importance of emotional intelligence to solve life’s challenges. Since the novel’s publication in 1998, McCall Smith has released 21 subsequent titles in the series. A television dramatization was released by the BBC and HBO in 2011. Other works by this author include Tears of the Giraffe (2000) and Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (2009).

This guide is based on the 2002 Anchor Press edition of the novel. Citations refer to page numbers in this edition.

Content Warning: This guide contains descriptions of sexual assault and gender-based violence. It also contains references to historical racial segregation, violence and oppression.

Plot Summary

Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, is the only female private detective in Botswana. She is charismatic and intuitive, with a way of getting people to talk to her. In one early case, she tricked a man into admitting he was lying about paternity in order to scam money out of a rich woman. She began the Detective Agency after her father Obed, who had been a mine worker in South Africa, died prematurely of lung damage, leaving her a herd of nearly 200 cattle. Precious Ramotswe’s mother had died shortly after she was born, and she was raised by her father and a cousin in a village called Mochudi. When she left school at age 16, Precious went to live with her cousin and the cousin’s husband near Gaborone. At age 20, she was married to an abusive man; after his violence hospitalized her, she returned to her father’s home to care for her father.

Mma Ramotswe hires a secretary, Mma Makutsi. The Agency’s first official case is also brought by Mma Malatsi, whose husband has gone missing. Mma Ramotswe discovers that he drowned during a baptism, and finds the alligator who devoured him, solving the case.

When a young boy is kidnapped, his father writes to the Agency asking for help finding him, although the family can’t pay. Mma Ramotswe is disturbed by the case but does not think she can help the family. Her friend, J.L.B. Matekoni, believes that the boy has been ritually killed so his body can be used for witchcraft practices.

The Agency’s first big case is brought by Paliwalar Patel, who fears that his daughter has a secret boyfriend. After learning that Precious Ramotswe is following her, the girl admits that she made up a boyfriend in order to prove her independence to her family. Mma Ramotswe encourages Paliwalar to give his daughter room to grow.

Buoyed by the success of the Patel case, Mma Ramotswe takes on a number of cases. Mma Pekwane fears that her husband’s new car is stolen, and Mma Ramotswe proves her instincts correct. Alice Busang asks Mma Ramotswe to prove her husband is unfaithful and is furious when the proof is a photo of the husband kissing Mma Ramotswe. The industrialist Hector Lepodise asks Mma Ramotswe to investigate an ex-employee who claims to have lost a finger in one of his factories. Mma Ramotswe discovers that he previously claimed a loss on the same finger when working for another employer.

Meanwhile, J.L.B. Matekoni asks Precious Ramotswe to marry him. She turns him down, saying that she never plans to remarry following the experience of her abusive first marriage. Rra Matekoni is hurt, and Mma Ramotswe admits that if she were going to remarry, she would choose him. They remain friends, and Rra Matekoni shares a secret with Mma Ramotswe: a small bag of muti, magical medicine, which has been found in the car of a powerful man named Charlie Gotso.

Mma Ramotswe takes the bag of muti to her neighbor Dr. Gulubane, a pathologist, who identifies it as the fingerbone of a child of eight or nine. This confirms her suspicions that it may belong to the kidnapped boy. Together with J.L.B. Matekoni, she devises a plot to force Charlie Gotso to name the witch doctor who supplied the muti. Before she can follow this lead, her friend Dr. Maketsi, a hospital administrator, brings an urgent case: He has suspicions that another doctor who has been acting irrationally is addicted to drugs. Mma Ramotswe investigates and discovers that the doctor is in fact a pair of twins, and that only one went to medical school. She arranges for the twins to be arrested in South Africa.

Mma Ramotswe travels alone to the witchdoctor’s house in the countryside. She learns from his wife that the kidnapped boy is alive and working at a distant cattle post. Mma Ramotswe rescues the boy and brings him back to his family. A few days later, J.L.B. Matekoni visits Mma Ramotswe to fix her van, which was damaged on the drive. He proposes to Precious Ramotswe again, and she accepts.