Number 6 in the Precious Ramotswe series, in which her past catches up with her, and the future shows its face to Mma Makutsi. More serious than the previous books, but just as charming and sensitive.

I started thinking about being a woman after reading this book. I think I have a lot in common with Mma Makutsi. ( )

Another warm and interesting visit with Precious, Mr. J. L. B., and Mma Makutsi. Pumpkins, proposals, new friends, and mystery abound! ( )

Un des bons de la série que j'ai lu à date. ( )

Note Mokoti re-surfaces and demands money from Mma Ramotswe or else. After a row with Mma Makutsi, Charlie quits his job at the garage. Any detecting work comes far behind the continuing story of the characters, which by this stage in the series is what we're really interested in anyway. ( )

Another volume in the Ladies Detective Agency series, and more of the same gentle pace and home-spun philosophy of life. Always a good read, and always a nice interlude between heavier books. Read July 2009 ( )

I read the first book in this series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, on June 3, 2005, and found it very pleasant reading. But I never followed up on that reading, till now when my daughter Laurie lent me this, the 6th volume in the series. I was immediately struck by how quickly the author arouses one's interest in the happenings to the admirable central character in the series, a lady detective in Botswana. It is a very pleasant account, with surges of concern for the good people involved. Remnds me of Barbara Pym, in an African setting. I should have read the books between the first volume and this one, I suppose, but that did not detract from enjoying this very enjoyable and pleasant volume. I can see why the series is so popular. ( )

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Relief flooded over me as I read the first chapter of In the Company of Cheerful Ladies! I have loved The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency from the very beginning but I could not even finish the last one, The Full Cupboard of Life, it just didn't grab me at all. So then I was really worried that I had gone off the series or that McCall Smith's writing style had changed but everything was okay when I read this one, I think that it is probably my favourite out of the whole series.
Precious Ramotswe is now married to Mr J.L.B. Maketoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and both of their businesses are doing very well. There are some small cases for the ladies to solve along the way but this book is more about the central characters and what is going on with their lives. Precious Ramotswe has a collision in her white van with a man on a bicycle and this brings a new friend into all their lives; Precious also has a very unwanted visitor from her past who has to be dealt with in her own special way. Meanwhile Mma Makutsi (she is my favourite character) has a spectacular row with Charlie, the apprentice over a tea-pot and he quits his job. However angry Mma Makutsi is she still helps out her friend when he gets himself into trouble with a very rich, Mercedes-Benz driving girl friend. My favourite part of the book was the story line following Mma Makutsi who decides to take up dancing lessons; she meets a very shy man at class who takes a particular shine to her and we follow them through the book.
I love the simplicity of Alexander McCall Smith's series; the characters are so warm and the messages in the book are so relevant to all of us. I am not sure what happened with the last one but I am so glad that I didn't give up on them, I shall be getting the next one as soon as possible. ( )

Handling a busy case load 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. ( )

This has turned out to be my favourite so far in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Like most, if not all, of McCall Smith's fictional writings it offers an escape to a world in which kind-hearted decency prevails. ( )

http://quettandil.blogspot.com/2008/1... ( )

#6 in the very cozy “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series set in Botswana, Africa. Though this series is definitely not heavy on the ‘mystery’ I love it, and each visit to Precious Ramotswe’s world always leaves me feeling refreshed and hopeful. In this episode, there are issues with an intruder hiding under Mma Ramotswe’s bed, one of the apprentices at Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage quitting and getting involved with a rich older woman, Mma Ramotswe’s first husband Note, a cruel and abusive jazz musician who has been away in Johannesburg, making a return visit to Gabarone, and Mma Makutsi taking dancing lessons. Enjoyable as always and hard to put down once you start one. ( )

This was the best of the lot. ( )

Mma Ramotswe, Grace Makutsi and Mr. J. L. B. Matekone feel like old friends that I haven't seen for a while and I've enjoyed the chance to catch on the events of their lives. Mma Ramotswe has a lot to deal with in this book, and yet she still manages to do so in her gentle, unassuming way. ( )

Another enjoyable installment in this series. ( )

How can one not chuckle with mirth while avoiding spilling one’s own favorite rich cup of bush tea when reading about Mma Ramotswe’s and Mma Makutsi’s arguments about the merits of regular versus bush tea and discovering the horror of a misappropriated teapot?

In the 6th book, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which takes place only six months after Charlie’s thorny parachute jump and Mma Ramotswe’s and Mr J.L.B. Matekoni’s happy nuptials, life is exceedingly busy for everyone and oddly strange for Mma Ramotswe when she has a fleeting encounter with an intruder at her home and finds a puzzling pumpkin on her porch, and a grave secret from the past causes her some worry. Charlie, one of the apprentices in the garage at Tlokweng Road speedy Motors, is seen in the company of a woman in a flashy silver Mercedes-Benz and is generally acting strangely, and when a storm about a tea pot has tempers flaring between Charlie and Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramostwe once again has to sort out the situation. Having just moved Mma Makutsi is taking an interest in widening her social horizons and enrolls in dancing lessons where she meets a man with a speech impediment and quite without rhythm and two left feet.

The general theme for this book is about having a solution or plan available in the face of adversity and how by simply having a plan or an option, Mma Ramotswe, no matter how difficult or dispiriting a situation, she keeps her wits about her and helps everyone else around her not to lose heart. And when a seemingly insurmountable problem confronts Mma Ramotswe herself, she goes about solving it in a straight forward manner. Her generous spirit shows that it costs very little to say the right words to make someone else feel better, even if at the cost to oneself.

With In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Alexander McCall Smith has penned the best of the series so far. The cast of characters is widening and even though there was little for the agency to investigate this time, the everyday life adventures make this a most rewarding and charming read that propelled the story line forward nicely. I can’t wait to delve into the next volume. ( )

In Book 6 of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the author allows his characters to really come into their own. The addition of a new member to the crew at Tlokweng Speedy Motors/No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is of great benefit to the narrative. The book starts off with a mystery and has a bit more of a "Murder She Wrote" type feel to it than the other books in the series. The return of a figure from Mma Ramotswe's past brings about a deeper sense of introspection from her character. Fans of Mma Makutsi will be happy to know that her storyline finally develops.
This is definitely the best of the six novels and Smith seems to grow more and more as a writer with each novel in the series. ( )

http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/20... ( )

Divinely, extremely funny ( )

I love the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series; sitting down with these books is like drinking a mug of delicious hot cocoa on a cold winter day (a nice image since it has been 90 degree days for as long as I can remember). This one was mostly about Mma Makutsi (the secretary/assistant detective) attending dance classes and finding love there. ( )

Sixth in line of the saga of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Cover blurb: Precious Ramotswe is now married to Mr J.L.B. Maketoni, of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. The Agency is busy, but Mma Ramotswe cannot ignore the plea of a woman who comes to her with a tale of particular misfortune. Unfortunately, her attempts to help are interrupted by a close encounter between her tiny white van and a bicycle, and by a spectacular disagreement between her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and one of the apprentices at the garage. This apprentice has found a fancy girlfriend who drives a Mercedes-Benz. How can he be rescued from his folly? And as for Mma Makutsi, she has found a dancing class, and a man who may not be able to dance very well but who admires her greatly. And all of this happens against a background of quiet sessions of bush tea, and of a land that stretches out forever under mile upon mile of empty sky. Both entertaining and moving, 'In The Company Of Cheerful Ladies' is another masterpiece of comic understatement and an affectionate homage to Botswana and its people.

This was a re-read for me so that I could read the next in the series. Precious Ramotswe, her family and friends are back in this the sixth in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Enjoyable as ever, we meet a couple of new characters and lots of familiar ones from the previous books.

If you've never read them before, start at the beginning. Highly recommended for a light-hearted loving look at life in Botswana. ( )

I’ve always been curious about these books since seeing their unusual and distinctive covers. Found the first one hard to get into mainly because I found the language very simplistic and as time is taken to show the main character’s background (important to the story) I got impatient to read about the detective agency mentioned in the title. It was worth persevering because suddenly all the pieces fit into place and the result of the slow build is that we are presented with a character who is easy to love and respect. These are not just stories of detection but also a story of the characters’ lives. I was struck very much by the simplicity of their lives; so uncluttered by materialism and so structured by values and morals. They put me in mind of The Little House on the Prairie series which as a child captivated me by their simplicity. I found these refreshing reading in an ever increasingly complicated world. Sometimes you need to escape and remember what’s important in life – these books remind us ( )