"The Miss Marple of Botswana."
—The New York Times Book Review

"General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much, if not more, than mystery readers."
—Publishers Weekly

"The author's prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision. His descriptions leave one as if standing in the Botswanan landscape. This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time."
—Anthony Daniels, The Sunday Telegraph

"I was enchanted by the character of Precious Ramotswe and the sly humor of Alexander McCall Smith's writing, his deft evocation of a culture."
—Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient

"A standout series."
—The New Brunswick Reader

"In the course of her work, Mma Ramotswe offers ample evidence of her country's complexities and contradictions....Practical yet softhearted, inventive yet steeped in convention, Mma Ramotswe is an appealing personality.... Mma Ramotswe's methods—and her results—are as unusual as the novels they inhabit."
—Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

"One of the best, most charming, honest, hilarious and life-affirming books to appear in years."
—The Plain Dealer

"Smart and sassy. Precious's progress is charted in passages that have the power to amuse or shock or touch the heart, sometimes all at once. Thoroughly engaging and entertaining."
—The Los Angeles Times

"One of the most entrancing literary treats of many a year. A tapestry of extraordinary nuance and richness."
—The Wall Street Journal

"A quiet joy, a little gem of a book set apart from the genre by the quality of its writing, as well as by its exotic setting. [It] uses simple but tellingly descriptive language to introduce readers to its warm and appealing heroine."
—The Boston Globe