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)

A soothing balm of humanity in story form

Sometimes I come across inhumanity, rudeness, or hateful behavior. And, I need something to detox the poison. Something to stop my brain from replaying horrible cruelty over and over again. These books do the job.

In the past week I've gone through the first five of the series of fifteen. And, am about to start book six. I'll probably want to save some of the books for later, because surely there will be another awful person who will cross my path and who will deliberately squat and poop on it sometime in the future. . . .

. . . if you ever want to immerse yourself in a virtual world of kind people, with a few foibles that make them interesting, with a few problems to overcome, then the gentle, intelligent, and subtle humor of Alexander McCall Smith . . . perfectly narrated by Lisette Lecat . . . will find you in a soul-restoring experience.

a wonderful change of pace.

i love the characters, the culture, and most of all the narrator of these stories.

Enchanting

Is there anything you would change about this book?

No.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Perhaps more interaction of the couple who get engaged at the end of the story.

What about Lisette Lecat’s performance did you like?

Her conversations were believable and well spoken.

Do you think In the Company of Cheerful Ladies needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I've read a few in this series and have enjoyed them all. The people in this African town are so polite, which I find very appealing and so lacking in our own society, it's wonderful just to listen to them speak. A delight!

Excellent

I have read a lot of books from this series. Unfortunately, not in order. This book gives a lot of background for 2 of the characters. However, the best reason to read this book is that it was a really good story. It made you feel happy for all of the main characters. It is my favorite in the series!

MMMMMakes you crazy with all the mmmmmmm's

I've enjoyed this series and loved the tv show, but this one seemed a little too simple, and the pronunciation of the M's, although probably correct, nearly drove me crazy. I couldn't finish it! Listen to the preview before you buy!

Sounds like the book come to life!

If you enjoy stories of Africa that underscore the beauty and humanity of people and the amazing geography of what is only in Africa, then you'll love this book. The reader provides, albeit to my untrained ear, a good southern African accent, and successfully makes each character sound unique. Ever wonder how to say "Mma" as in "Mma Romatswe?" Listen to this reader who renders the pronunciation and character voices successfully.

Wonderful, life affirming, character portraits in Botswana read to sound like the book has come to life.

Listen to the Zebra Drive tales and imagine having a cup of sweat-inducing hot, sweet tea in the cement floored and thinly furnished office of Mma Romatswe as you look across the rim of your cup and hear the wisdom of this kind-hearted fictitious woman.

Another winner for Smith

After A Cupboard Full of Life (book #5) I thought that Smith and this series was going downhill. Well, with In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Smith's score is way back up there. I loved the characters especially (as usual) but the stories were fun and I smiled most of my listening time. The narrator was fine after I got used to her and the pronunciation of names, although it seems strange to listen to, is just like it is written in the books, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and the slowness helps with the wondrful accent.

Lovely

I have not finished listening to this book, but I have read all the others and know there is generally more about character than plot in these novels. I disagree with the previous review. I think the reader does a wonderful job of expressing the pace of these novels and highlighting the various characters. It did take me a while before I could listen to "Mma" (a courtesy title) without thinking of a speech impediment, but it does finally integrate into the whole.

Much of the charm of this series is the fact the books are set in a place where life is slower and less frantic than the world most of us inhabit. Give it a chance. Enjoy the ride.

No.1 Ladies' Detective Stories

I enjoy this book series very much and this book in particular because it overlaps with the HBO series which starred Jill Scott. The author gives a wonderfully rare humorous and candid view of modern African society.

Predictable, but charming.

Smith writes a new iteration of the same story, but it is enjoyable and the narrator was good.