The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

In this, the twelfth book of this series, Mma Precious Ramotswe, the proprietor of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is hired to find who dun-it in the case of brutal attacks on a farmer’s cattle. As the client begins to show his true colors, Precious decides he is not particularly likable and perhaps even less truthful. He is; however, a client and is entitled to the best services of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Travel with Precious Ramotswe as she tries to unravel the mystery.

Mma Ramotswe’s assistant, Grace Makutsi, is getting married very soon. Of course, she must have new shoes. For those of you who have read the previous books in the series you will remember her obsession with shoes. There are some anxious/amusing moments concerning the wedding shoes.

Some fairly stressful times surface for the somewhat undependable, unpredictable Charlie, the apprentice mechanic, who works for Mma Ramotswe’s husband in the garage next door to the detective agency. Why are some infant twins making Charlie more undependable than normal? As usual, Mma Makutsi and Charlie exchange frequent verbal barbs. Will they ever be able to solve their differences? In the end, irresponsible Charlie may just very well surprise you as he does some things that are totally uncharacteristic of his past actions. Oh my, Mma Ramotswe does have her hands full.

But wait, Mma Ramotswe’s beloved tiny white van previously went to the vehicle graveyard …….didn’t it? Does any one really obsess over a vehicle as much as Precious seems to? Well, you just have to read the book to find out what happened concerning the cattle, Charlie’s relationship concerning the twins, the case of the tiny white van and the final outcome of Grace’s wedding shoes and the big wedding.

One can learn a bit about Botswana, enjoy a well-edited book and have a few laughs at/or with the well-developed characters. There is no offensive language, no gory murder scenes or really despicable characters. This is just the story of a “traditionally built” Botswana lady detective and her bespectacled, very outspoken and opinionated assistant, Mma Ramotswe’s mechanic husband and the two mechanic apprentices as they go about their daily routines. With lots of bush tea, cases are solved, puzzles unraveled, and new shoes walk Grace down the aisle. The reading material is suitable for young adults and up. This book was not a page turning, stay up late to read, one for me. I found it a little slow moving and would have liked Precious to have more cases to solve. Maybe the author is running out of ideas for this series. I enjoyed reading the book; however, it is not one that I am likely to read again.

Join Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, for the weeks that elapse in this charming tale of life in Botswana, and you may emerge with fresh perspective on life. Mma Ramotswe — the prefix is a title akin to “Ms.” — and those who surround her live their lives in a slow and steady way that would be familiar to village-based people everywhere but alien to those of us who populate the world’s fast-paced urban centers.

Mma Ramotswe’s Botswana is a nation displaced from the passage of time as we experience it. Botswana today is one of the world’s fastest-growing nations, an efficiently governed country that has raised its GDP per capital from $70 in 1966, when it gained independence from Britain, to $14,800 in 2010. There is no hint of this dynamism in The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, which harkens back to an age before the Internet, before mobile phones, before American, European, and Indian films — in short, before all the trappings of today’s reality that are inescapable in all but the most resolutely isolated countries in the world today. This is a celebration of the Africa that never was.

In this novel, as in its predecessors in the celebrated No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe’s world is circumscribed by a stable cast of characters who play roles in all her various cases: her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, “the best mechanic in all Botswana,” and his two young apprentices, Charlie and Fanwell; her socially inept sidekick, Grace Makutsi, who never lets anyone forget she achieved “97 per cent” on her final exam at the Botswana Secretarial College; Grace’s nemesis, Violet Sephotho, a glamorous, man-hungry ne’er-do-well; Grace’s fiance, Phuti Radiphuti, the well-to-do owner of a furniture store; and Mma Potokwane, who manages the orphan farm and the lives of anyone else who comes into her orbit.

All these characters play their assigned roles as Mma Ramotswe sets out to solve the latest mystery — the murder of two cows under the dead of night at a remote rural cattle post — all the while she pursues the ghost of a beloved tiny white van, confronts the accusation that Charlie has fathered twins but refuses to acknowledge them, and helps Grace prepare for her wedding. Each of these plotlines is fraught with anxiety and yields up a surprise, but it all comes out just fine in the end, as always.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party is the 12th in Smith’s series of novels about The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, his best-known work in fiction. However, this is just one among four other series of novels plus a much longer list of children’s books. And his work in fiction pales against his professional career as an expert in forensic law and bioethics and a respected university lecturer in both Scotland and Botswana. In addition to his numerous works of fiction, he has authored or coauthored a dozen nonfiction books on medicine, the law, and other topics.

(From […])

When I need to read a book to restore some faith in the good side of human nature (and that seems to come more often these days) I turn to ‘The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ series. ‘The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party did not disappoint. Good sense triumphs in the end over less desirable traits and I was left with a warm glow. Not for everyone therefore!

The main case for investigation is brought to Mma Ramotswe by farmer some of whose cattle have been hamstrung. He is too nervous to call into her office for the first meeting and this turns out to be a very puzzling case. She does not like this man and can’t weigh him up properly. Mma Ramotswe has different theories and cannot decide which is right. In the end however all the parties to this mysterious crime are satisfied with the outcome of the investigation even if they all arrive at a different conclusion.

Meanwhile Charley, one Mr JLB Matekoni’s apprentices has been a naughty boy and the friction between him and Mma Makutsi becomes particularly nasty. Mma Makutsi is in the final stages of preparing for her wedding to Phuti Edgar Rhadiphuti, thus the title of the book. Her obsession with shoes goes to a new level when contemplating wedding shoes. And finally Mma Ramotswe has a renunion with the love of her life, (excepting her father Obed Ramotswe).

A very pleasant gentle story with all important warm glow factor.

Unfortunately at the time of reading this book it is the penultimate book in the series. It is followed only by

The Limpopo Academy Of Private Detection (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency)

and since I have already read it I have run out of comfort reading material. 🙁

Precious Ramotswe is still mourning her little white van and thinks she has seen it restored to its former glory. Mma Makutsi is making the final preparations for her wedding to Phuti Radaphuti and feels the guest list is maybe getting out of hand – then there is the vexed question of which shoes to buy. Charlie – one of Mr J L B Maketoni’s apprentices has apparently fathered twins and has run away from his responsibilities. Mma Ramotswe has a new case to investigate and she does not really like her client whose cattle are being injured.

The story is full of interesting people and simple values. The writing itself is deceptively simple and avoids being patronising. A simpler world of old fashioned values is revealed and everyday problems are brought to life. You won’t find any graphic descriptions of violence in this series and this book is no exception but that does not mean the author avoids serious issues. Problems can be solved with goodwill on all sides and perhaps with a little bit of deception.

The series characters are constantly developing and maybe even Charlie is turning over a new leaf. Will marriage finally mellow Grace Makutsi’s sharp tongue and tendency to speak her mind? This is an enjoyable and relaxing read and a salutary reminder that often the only way to resolve a difficult situation is to put aside our pride and make the first move.

As many others have, I have followed the adventures of Mma Ramotswe through the twelve books in this series keenly awaiting the next installment. Each book delightfully conveys the joys of living in the calm atmosphere of Botswana, where traditional values of polite behaviour are still appreciated. Whilst it would be easy for a series to become stale, each edition has been able to conjure the same magical joys of the previous books. In this installment Mma Ramotswe investigates the maiming of cattle owned by an overbearing cattle owner, Charlie continues with his apprenticeship and receives lessons in the responsibilites of fatherhood, and Mma Makutsi has a disaster with a new pair of wedding shoes. The charming little white van also undergoes renovation and has a new lease of life. AMS has the rare gift of being able to make the mundane seem interesting in his delicate and understatedly humorous style. Another delightful installment.