The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Collectors' Edition

THE STORY SO FAR . . .
By Alexander McCall Smith

Ten years ago The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency was published by Polygon here in Edinburgh. At the time I had no idea that this book would mark the beginning of a long literary conversation between me and the characters who are at the centre of it. Nor had I any idea that this conversation would be shared with a large number of people throughout the world. Now, eight volumes and ten years later, Polygon is issuing a beautifully-produced collector’s edition of the first book of the series. Every copy will be signed by me and by the illustrator, Iain MacIntosh.

The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is not a conventional novel of detection or mystery. It is the story of Mma Ramotswe, a woman in Botswana who sets up a small business which happens to be a detective agency. She does not deal with criminal matters, but concentrates on solving the problems that people bring to her – relatively small-scale problems for the most part. In this task she is assisted by her able deputy, Mma Makutsi, and by the man who is destined to become her husband, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni.

The world which Mma Ramotswe inhabits is a quiet world. People treat one another there with decency and integrity, and a great deal of time is spent drinking tea and contemplating the ways of the world. Obviously not all of Botswana is like that by any means, but it is a side of life there which really does exist. So although these are not novels of social realism, they are not entirely fanciful either. There are women like Mma Ramotswe in Botswana and, yes, they are heroines. At a broader level, the book is also intended to be a tribute to a society which has done extremely well since it achieved its independence in 1966. We are used to stories of failure and disaster emanating from Africa; this story is the opposite of that.

This first book set the tone of what was to follow. Perhaps more than the other novels in the series, it is a hymn of praise to a whole country that has come to represent something very important in that part of Africa. But it is also a tribute to a certain sort of person – to the Mma Ramotswes of this world. It shows, I hope, how good lives may be led on a small scale; how kindness conquers unkindness; how a day interspersed with breaks for tea might be a good and productive use of one’s time. And the ending, I might point out, is a happy one.