The Wisdom of Mma Ramotswe

Stuart Rosenbaum, Baylor University

ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH'S delightful series of short novels celebrates the character of Mma Ramotswe. Beginning with The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, each successive book brings readers additional familiarity with the character and personality around whom the series revolves. Mma Ramotswe is not the only notable character in the series; other characters are, a bit like characters in a soap opera, ongoing members of a continuing cast around whom come and go various characters that enable further definition of the characters and personalities of the continuing cast. Readers naturally come to know and empathize with continuing characters like Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni and Mma Maktusi who have their own needs and hopes, but even these ongoing characters contribute primarily to the context in which McCall Smith's heroine, Mma Ramotswe, grows into her life.