Buat kamu yang baru akan pertama kali membaca serial ini–ya, ini sebuah serial terdiri dari beberapa judul, jadi sebaiknya dibaca secara urut dari buku pertamanya : Kantor Detektif Perempuan No. 1–aku ingatkan untuk bersiap diri mendapati kisah detektif yang berbeda. Kau tidak bisa berharap akan menemukan sosok perempuan super yang akan berkelahi melawan penjahat atau karakter wanita setua Miss Marple yang memecahkan misteri sembari merajut.Mma Ramostwe bukan tipe perempuan seperti itu. Ia seorang perempuan Afrika bertubuh tinggi besar (untuk tidak menyebutnya gemuk). Di negerinya, Botswana, wanita cantik adalah wanita bertubuh besar. Perempuan-perempuan kurus dengan dada dan bokong rata seperti para peragawati, di sana tidak dianggap seksi. Maka, Mma Ramotswe sangat bangga dan bahagia dengan ukuran tubuhnya tersebut.Kau juga lebih baik membuang jauh-jauh harapan tentang sebuah kisah detektif yang njelimet dan penuh ketegangan seumpama Da Vinci Code, karena kau tidak akan menemukannya di buku ini. Seperti sudah kukatakan tadi, ini cerita detektif yang berbeda. Apalagi pada buku ketiga ini, dua kasus yang ditangani Mma Ramotswe benar-benar sederhana dan biasa-biasa saja : seorang pejabat pemerintah yang mencurigai iparnya telah meracuni adik lelaki si pejabat serta mencari tahu moralitas gadis-gadis para peserta kontes kecantikan. Kasus yang sangat sepele, bukan, meskipun untuk yang pertama agak sedikit menjanjikan sebuah kisah misteri pembunuhan.Tetapi, jangan cepat-cepat mengurungkan niat kamu untuk membaca buku ini, karena jika kamu seorang yang senang membaca kisah-kisah yang memuat hubungan antarmanusia di sebuah negeri beserta kebiasaan masyarakat dan budayanya, kamu akan menyukai cerita di buku ini. Ada pun untuk kamu yang sudah akrab dengan Mma Ramotswe yang keren itu tapi belum membaca bagian ketiganya, aku beri tahu, di sini ia memindahkan kantornya ke bengkel Tuan JLB Matekoni, tunangannya itu yang agaknya sedang menderita depresi oleh rasa bersalah yang tidak bisa ia ceritakan kepada siapa pun. Tingkahnya menjadi aneh. Ia mogok kerja dan menelantarkan bengkelnya, ditinggalkan begitu saja bersama kedua orang pekerja magang di sana. Kedua pemuda dengan kelakuan sedikit tengil yang perlu ditertibkan.Maka, Mma Ramotswe, seperti biasanya segera bertindak cepat membereskan semua masalah. Ia menugaskan Mma Makutsi, sekretarisnya yang lulusan Akademi Sekretaris itu, sebagai manajer pelaksana di bengkel dan menangani semua urusan pelanggan termasuk juga pembinaan kedua montir tersebut. Sementara itu, ia berniat untuk membawa tunangannya ke dokter. Setelahnya baru melakukan penyelidikan kasus si Pejabat Pemerintah. Karakter sentral yang menjadi nyawa buku ini memang Mma Ramotswe. Namun, kali ini ia mesti berbagi porsi cukup besar dengan Mma Makutsi yang ternyata diam-diam menyimpan bakat sebagai detektif. Selama majikannya pergi menyelidiki kasus peracunan itu, ia dengan berani memutuskan menerima order lain: menyelidiki 4 orang gadis finalis kontes kecantikan. Dia harus mencari data dan informasi sebanyak-banyaknya ihwal keempat kontestan tersebut. Hasilnya kelak akan dipakai oleh panitia penyelenggara kontes sebagai bahan pertimbangan memilih juaranya. Dibanding dua buku sebelumnya, buku ketiga ini kurang memuaskan, terutama karena kasusnya tidak menarik dengan penyelesaian yang tidak istimewa. Nyaris tak ada unsur kejutannya. Yang sedikit agak menghibur adalah kemunculan sisi lain Mma Makutsi sebagai manajer bengkel dan asisten penyelidik. Dengan gayanya yang berusaha tampak elegan, ia membuktikan bahwa perempuan tidak harus menjadi cantik dulu untuk meraih keberhasilan. Kecerdasan otak dan kebaikan hati jauh lebih penting dari sekadar memiliki wajah rupawan dan tubuh seksi menawan. Kurasa ia sedang menyindir masyarakat modern yang memuja kecantikan. Apa boleh buat, memang demikianlah yang ingin disampaikan McCall Smith melalui kedua tokoh perempuannya ini. Kecantikan fisik (perempuan) bukanlah segalanya. Tetapi Mr. Smith, benarkah begitu?***
Mma Makutsi rises to her own in this volume "Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Book 3)". As Mma Ramtoswe feels the pinch economically and emotionally, what with money being tight in the agency and the illness of her fiance, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, she comes to rely on the unexpected talents and strength of her secretary. Mma Makutsi, with her too dark complexion and too big glasses, a less than beautiful facial features, shows true beauty in her no-nonsense approach to taking on the business managerial load of Tolkweng Road Speedy Motors and its "lazy, girl-crazy apprentices", as well as landing a big paying client for the detective agency. Mma Ramotswe doesn't exactly take the back seat, but as she wrestles with the case of depression of her normally steady and reliable Motekoni, she is able to see her secretary's best qualities. In fact, I found the very modern issue of medical depression quite fascinating, along with Mma Ramotswe's recognition of the need to read about it, and get help from the other strong woman in the series, specifically Mma Potokwane, the director of the children's orphanage who relies on Rra Matekoni for help. As for the agency's cases, Precious Ramotswe takes on the case of an obnoxious Governmental Official who wants his own family investigated. Her wisdom in using the cultural courtesies of Botswana to interview the would be "culprits" and find a solution are offshoots of plain common good sense. Her strength of character reinforces the issue of morality in the story."Morality is for everybody, and this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it. That was what made modern morality, with its emphasis on individuals and the working out of an individual position, so weak. If you gave people the chance to work out their morality, then they would work ouyt the version which was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much time as possible. That was simple selfishness, whatever grand name one gave to it."Most amusing of all is the big money customer that Mma Makutsi obtains who requires a quick investigation into the character of four Miss Beauty and Integrity of Botswana candidates, a rush job with an unusual need and surprising resolution."Men usually let their defences now and then, and the art of being a successful woman, and beating men at their own game, was to wait your moment. When that moment arrived, you could manipulate a man with little difficulty." Mr. J. L. B.'s recuperative visit to the orphanage and connection with a wild child there further enrich his gentleman's character. Although I did wish for a better resolution as to the mystery surrounding the boy who smelled of lion. Book Details: Title Morality for Beautiful Girls (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Book 3)Author Alexander McCall SmithReviewed By Purplycookie
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Everyone knows all about Mma Ramotswe and her No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. It's delightful, set in Botswana, and filled with the local flavours. In this book, Mma Ramotswe gets an important client from the government, JLB Matekoni is suffering from depression, Mma Makutsi gets her first solo triumph by solving a case for a huge fee. The bankrupt company is flush again!My two facourite quotes: This sad truth was hilariously put - "Women, as usual, were expected to behave better than men, and inevitably attracted criticism for doing things that men were licensed to do with impunity. It was not fair; it had never been fair, and it would probably never be fair in the future. Men would wriggle out of it somehow, even if you tied them up in a constitution. Men judges would find that the constitution really said something rather different from what was written on the page and interpret it in a favour of men. All people, both men and women, are entitled to equal treatment in the workplace became Women can get some jobs, but they cannot do certain jobs (for their own protection) as men will do these jobs better anyway."Another brilliant piece of observation - "She was a traditionally built lady, after all, and she did not have to worry about dress size, unlike those poor, neurotic people who were always looking in mirrors and thinking that they were too big. What was too big, anyway? Who was to tell another person what size they should be? It was a form of dictatorship, by the thin, and she was not having any of it. If these thin people became any more insistent, then the more generously sized people would just have to sit on them. Yes, that would teach them! Hah!"These books have to be read to be experienced. Reviews are not sufficient to do justice to their delightfulness.
—Kavita
Third novel in his Lady Detective agency. It's a lovely book, old fashioned in its slow pace, very low key plot.It's a slice of life from a world that moves at a different pace from ours. In this we meet our detective Mma Ramotswe again facing the daily chores of a business woman (her business is not making enough money to cover Mma Makutsi's raised in status and pay), an engaged to be married woman (her fiancé Mr. Matekoni is acting strangely). Mma Makutsi takes on her first case and the apprentices in Mr Matekoni's garage. All ends well as it should be but the journey there was interesting.
—Writerlibrarian
This series (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) NEVER lets me down. I space it out between other reading and return to it when I need some "dessert". Mma Romatswe is such a breath of fresh air that my twin sister and I fantasize of one day following her lead and opening a "Detective Agency" with the similar skills of "preciposity" and a traditional build. The author possesses rare skill of capturing the essence and beauty of human nature, with poetic images of Africa as a backdrop. I will definitely be back for the next installment in the series, like a kid to a candy shop.
—Kathrine Holyoak
