The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

by Alexander McCall Smith

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (8)

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English (47) Swedish (1) French (1) Finnish (1) All languages (50)

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Showing 1-5 of 47 (next | show all)

Everything seems to be changing at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors as both Mma Makutsi and Charlie the apprentice are looking for a change of career and even Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni wants to try his hand at being a detective.

stevejwales | Apr 27, 2013 |

I loved the first few books in this series but lost interest after the Full Cupboard of Life. Something about this book's cover appealed to me and I looked forward to immersing myself in Mma Ramotswe's African world again.

I didn't really enjoy the book very much, it was an effort to finish it. The writing was as good, the little plots and twists and turns as amusing, and all the familiar characters were getting on with their lives, so what was it?

To me, Mma Ramotswe was just a paper figure in this book. There was scarcely a mention of her home life - no more than two or three cursory mentions of her children, just one reminiscence of her childhood life with her beloved father and nothing at all on her traditional African figure that figures so largely in other books. Nothing much either on interplay between her and anyone much except Mma Makutsi. Various other characters, such as Mma Potokwane, she of the commanding presence and orphanage, were just drawn briefly into the book to further one of the stories, but did not figure herself.

Some books you read for plot, some you read for the characters and this book was just weak tea, ordinary tea, no more strong bush tea to be poured into a cup to be sipped slowly, with enjoyment. (

)

Petra.Xs | Apr 2, 2013 |

A shake-up at the detective agency! A nice bit of drama. Not much of Mma Ramotswe, which was unfortunate (I thought). The stories were pretty focused on the other characters. I enjoy them, but I don't think I liked this book quite as much as the other books because of the change in focus. (

)

Krumbs | Mar 31, 2013 |

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is asked to investigate deaths at a local hospital, a possibly unfaithful husband, and a possible pilferer at a printing works. There are changes at the agency and at Speedy Motors.

I realise the mysteries are not really the point of these gentle stories but one of the current crop follows the lines of an old joke, which was a bit of a disappointment. (

)

Robertgreaves | Aug 24, 2012 |

Every day is an adventure for the proprietor of Botswana's leading detective agency. Yet even the daily troubles her clients present to her do not intrigue Precious the way her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, does. For a long time now, he has dropped hints that he intends to do something special for their adopted daughter Motholeli. But what exactly that is, and whether or not he can carry it off without causing a handful of troubles, are the questions on Precious' mind. (

)

jepeters333 | Feb 14, 2012 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Alexander McCall Smith	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Kankaanpää, Jaakko	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Books 5-8 by Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Books 1-9 by Alexander McCall Smith

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Series (with order)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (8)

Canonical title

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

Original title

Information from the Finnish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to the English one.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

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New York Times bestseller (Fiction, 2007)

Epigraph

Dedication

This book is for
Tom and Sheila Tlou

First words

It is useful, people generally agree, for a wife to wake up before her husband.

Quotations

Some said that they would have liked to live before the colonial era, before Europe came and carved Africa up; that, they said, would have been a good time, when Africa ran its own affairs, without humiliation. Yes, it was true that Europe had devoured Africa like a hungry man at a feast—and an uninvited one too—but not everything had been perfect before that. What if one had lived next door to the Zulus, with their fierce militarism? What if one were a weak person in the house of the strong? The Batswana had always been a peaceful people, but one could not say that about everybody. And what about medicines and hospitals? Would one have wanted to live in a time when a little scratch could turn septic and end one's life? Or in the days before dental anaesthetic? Mma Ramotswe thought not, and yet the pace of life was so much more human then and people made do with so much less. Perhaps it would have been good to live then, when one did not have to worry about money, because money did not exist; or when one did not have to fret about being on time for anything, because clocks were as yet unknown. There was something to be said for that; there was something to be said for a time when all on had to worry about was the cattle and the crops.

"Men and boys think that we would like to be them," she said. "I don't think they know how pleased we are to be women."

Great feuds often need very few words to resolve them. Disputes, even between nations, between peoples, can be set to rest with simple acts of contrition and corresponding forgiveness, can so often be shown to be based on nothing much other than pride and misunderstanding, and the forgetting of the humanity of the other—and land, of course.

It was so bright outside, with the winter sun beating down remorselessly, and the air thin and brittle, and everything in such clear relief. Under such light our human failures, our frailty, seemed so pitilessly illuminated. Here he was, a mechanic, not a man who was good with words, not a man of great substance, just an ordinary man, who had loved an exceptional woman and thought that he might be good enough for her; such a thought, when there were men with smooth words and sophisticated ways, men who knew how to charm women, to lure them away from the dull men who sought, so unrealistically, to possess them.

Mma Ramotswe sighed. "We cannot make all our clients happy, Mma. Sometimes, maybe. It depends on whether they want to know what we tell them. The truth is not always a happy thing, is it?"

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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0375422730, Hardcover)

THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY - Book 8

Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the basis of the HBO TV show, and its proprietor Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming series, Mma Ramotswe navigates her cases and her personal life with wisdom, and good humor—not to mention help from her loyal assistant, Grace Makutsi, and the occasional cup of tea.

In the life of Precious Ramotswe–a woman duly proud of her fine traditional build– there is rarely a dull moment, and in the latest installment in the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series there is much happening on Zebra Drive and Tlokweng Road. Mma Ramotswe is experiencing staffing difficulties. First Mr. J.L.B. Mate-koni asks to be put in charge of a case involving an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as successfully as the number one lady detective can? Then she has a minor falling-out with her assistant, Mma Makutsi, who decides to leave the agency, taking the 97 percent she received on her typing final from the Botswana Secretarial College with her.

Along the way, Mma Ramotswe is asked to investigate a couple of tricky cases. Will she be able to explain an unexpected series of deaths at the hospital in Mochudi? And what about the missing office supplies at a local printing company? These are the types of questions that she is uniquely well suited to answer.

In the end, whatever happens, Mma Ramotswe knows she can count on Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world. And there is always her love for Botswana, a country of which she is justifiably proud.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:12:41 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

Detective Precious Ramotswe has her hands full with her assistant's resignation, as well as a set of cases involving unexplained deaths at a nearby hospital, an allegedly cheating husband, and thievery at a local printing company.

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