In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

By: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by: Lisette Lecat

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Readers everywhere have become entranced by the New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, from acclaimed author and award-winning wit Alexander McCall Smith. Each charming book in the series is a masterpiece of comic subtlety and a window for viewing the distinctive culture and landscape of Botswana.

Handling a busy caseload at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and contending with an intruder in her home, Mma Ramotswe has plenty on her mind. So when her unfortunate past returns to haunt her, she is happy her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, is distracted as well. It seems one of his apprentices at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors has raced off with an older, wealthy woman.

Life on the edge of the Kalahari is as humorously chaotic as ever for Mma Ramotswe and her loved ones. And there's plenty of bush tea to go around.

Listen to the other titles in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

©2004 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"[A] consistently delightful series....Amid the hilarious scenarios and quiet revelations are luminous descriptions of Botswana, land of wide-open spaces and endless blue skies." (Publishers Weekly)
"[McCall Smith] delivers another winner, brimming with poetic descriptions of Botswana, pitch-perfect assessments of human foibles, and sensible resolutions reached over steaming cups of bush tea. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and quietly profound, these life-affirming mysteries are fine company, indeed." (Booklist)

another good story

This is my 6th of this series and I enjoyed it, but I feel like it's time to stop having also every character called by their full name all the time. I'll be doing these as filler between other books; I bought a bunch when they were on sale on Audible. It was worth it. I've copied some parts of the past reviews to save time.

Precious Ramotswe is a Private Inspector and founder of the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". She has an assistant, a husband who is an auto mechanic, and two foster children. There are multiple mysteries in this, one involving a man who Precious caused to fall off his bicycle. Another involves a garage apprentice seeing an older woman.

Although Alexander McCall Smith is a white man, he did grow up in the area and he seems to understand a lot about issues and traditions. I would like to see how some local people think about these books.

The narration is excellent and I look forward to the next book in the series. The narration is 5 stars!

Great Listen

I read the first book in this series and didn't care much for it. Then I decided to listen to the next. I really enjoyed the narrator and kept on until I have heard every book in the series. They just keep getting better. As far as I'm concerned, the narrator makes all the difference in my enjoyment of these books. She does a superb job--her accent adds so much to the books! This one is a must for all of Mma Ramotswe fans!

Best in a Wonderful Series

I love all of these books, but "In the Company of Cheerful Ladies" is my favorite. Read it and you'll know why. A character like Mma Ramotswe hasn't come along for a while!

Good stories

The mystery part of these tales get lesser and lesser, but the stories get stronger and stronger. I've given up on a presentation of a mystery, and just listen to the story now. As such, it's first rate.

Good story but...

The narrator read too slowly! Perhaps if you are able to speed up the play on your device this wouldn't be a problem, but it drove me nuts!

Lovely Listen

A lovely narrator - worth listening to just for the pleasure of listening to her voice. In places, the book appears to be condescending to Africans, but having read some of the author's other books set in Europe, I think this is just an occasional part of his style which always grates a little.

My problem is Pronouncef

I can't get beyond the monotone of the narrator mixed with the pronunciation of the names....
It's like a silky stuttering.
I realize it is the actual inflections of dialect, but 5 x that I have tried I over 2 years... I cannot get above chapter 3...

Cheerful, Comfortable, Dependable

What did you love best about In the Company of Cheerful Ladies?
I like all of Alexander Mc Call Smith/s books so far. I like series where the people are living an ordinary life. I like to revisit a town that I know the name of and characters that I remember fondly. Mr Smith has written another book about people that I like and understand. Good people who are concerned for one another's feelings. There are peripheral characters that are not nice at all but the cheerful ladies deal with these also. It is well written in his flowing style that includes descriptions of Botswana life and countryside.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
My doctor has recommended that I stick to light reading without drama or horror. So I am not looking for the edge of my seat.

What does Lisette Lecat bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Lisette Lecat is a wonderful reader and I couldn't imagine anyone else in her place.

Superb narration

Soothing to listen to on a nasty commute or to wind down after a hectic day. Understated without breath taking action. Events leisurely unwind to reveal themselves. Totally immerses the listener in a slower paced life of a wonderfully different place and culture where tea, taking care not to offend and respecting one's elders are still improtant values to society. The pronunciation formal Botswanian titles for Mr. and Mrs. that grated on some reviewers was fine by me - very different but pleasingly so to hear people consistently addressed by formal titles and not in a crude way or not addressed by a title at all. I'll be downloading more of this series.

so good

This is one of the books in the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. This is a top notch series and I believe that to truly enjoy the series, every book should be read in the order written. The characters and story line develop over time in the series and they are people you really want to get to know. The story lines and characters can be funny, disgraceful or tragic, but they are always interesting. Smith is a keen observer of people and has great talent for drawing characters and telling whopping good stories.
The reader is the same for each book in the series and she is one of the best I have ever heard. She gives consistly solid performances over the entire series. The characters remain the same from one book to the other. Her accents are extrordinarily good. If I had to choose between reading this series and listening to it read by this reader (Lisette Lecat) I would without hesitation choose the audible version. Purchase them all - they are so very good.