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The Miracle at Speedy Motors: The New Novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency) | 
| Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.45
You Save: $11.50 (50%)
New (44) Used (21) Collectible (3) from $11.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 47
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.2
ISBN: 0375424482
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780375424489
ASIN: 0375424482
Publication Date: April 15, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the latest installment of this infinitely enjoyable and best-selling series, Precious Ramotswe is doing what she does best--helping people with their problems and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.
Mma Ramotswe is busy investigating her latest case: a woman who is looking for her family. The problem is, the woman doesn't know her real name of whether any members of her family are now living. Meanwhile, Phuti Radiphuti has bought Mma Makutsi a glorious new bed. Unfortunately, it will inadvertently cause her several sleepless nights. And life is no less complicated at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni--Mma Ramotswe's estimable husband--has fallen under the sway of a doctor who has promised a miracle cure for his daughter's medical condition, which Mma Ramotswe finds hard to believe. But Precious Ramotswe deals with these difficulties with her usual grace and good humor, and in the end discovers that the biggest miracles in life are often the small ones.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Uplifting May 2, 2008
I love the Andrew McAll Smith books, both about Africa and about Scotland, but the African books are so special to me. There are very few books that I read over and over again, but rereading one of Smith's books is so refresing, so inspiring, so up lifting. To take simple life experiences and misunderstandings to a whole new level of understanding of human nature to an touching level of humanity is just incredible. I missed McAll-Smith when he was here a Pacific Luther University, but my heart was with him and Ruranda. Would that it would be like how he writes about it. You don't need a review of the story or to have read his previous books, just enjoy whats on the page and let the climate an attitudes wash over you to take you to a place that you wished you might visit and embrace.
 The gentle world of Precious Ramotswe May 2, 2008
Alexander McCall Smith is back with another book in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Three of the main characters have situations which comprise the plot lines of the book. First of all, a client comes to Mma Ramotswe with a request that she find her lost biological family. Her assistant, Mmma Makutsi, and her fiance, Phuti, have a problem with a bed, and her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, pays a high price to seek a cure for their foster daughter, Motholeli. Added to this, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi receive threatening and insulting letters from an anonymous person. As always, these plots are woven together throughout the book, and the ending neatly ties them up. This is not as clever a book as some of the others in the series, but it maintains the charm of Botswana and of lives lived with optimism and gratitude for the small blessings of life.
Heart-Warming Vignettes About Caring for One Another May 2, 2008
My favorite books in this series are filled with authentic stories of Africa and her people. As the series has developed, it's often reading more like people anywhere rather than Africans.
The Miracle at Speedy Motors examines the themes of marital love, parental responsibility, honesty, jealousy, commitment, bonding, handling mistakes, and friendship. In keeping with the detective focus of the series, there are cases to be solved. A woman wants to find an unidentified person. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi receive threatening letters. A landlord wants to get rid of a tenant.
The focus of the book, however, is on the relationships among the continuing characters, especially Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and Mma Ramotswe, Mr. Phuti Radiphuti and Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe and Mr. Polopetsi, and Mma Makutsi and Charlie in the garage. You also get to read more about Mma Potokwane and Motholeli than in most of the other books.
What made the book special to me were the heart-felt commitments that some of the characters made towards doing the right thing, no matter what. Alexander McCall Smith loves people and when he expresses that love through his characters it feels great just to be alive.
I found Mma Makutsi more annoying than usual in this book, and not nearly as funny in her foolish scenes. Otherwise, I would have graded the book at five stars. I hope that the next book will focus more on Precious and her family.
"We are all care of one another" April 30, 2008
Don't know about you, but I've been slapped silly by the speed of change in American life. Thus it is refreshing to open up a volume in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and watch how modern Botswana and its people, as portrayed in these charming but not simplistic novels, are holding their own as the future hurls itself at them. These are not what we have come to think of as conventional mysteries with body counts, procedurals and intricately plotted solutions. The private detective Mma Ramotswe and her assistant, Mma Matakusi, handle the daily transactions of their own lives and their clients that raise questions small and big, all of which have moral consequences. In THE MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS, it may be as simple as whether to cover up the damage to an expensive gift of furniture, or as complicated as whether to believe in (and pay for) a miracle cure for a young girl confined to a wheelchair.
In this book, Mma Ramotswe continues to apply the folk wisdom of the traditional way of life which she worries is slipping from Botswana's grasp. Tradition continues to lead her to the truth and to reconcile the fact that truth does not always deploy happy endings. It's the achievement of this delicate balance and warm wit that keep this reader coming back for more. There is nothing new, as a previous reviewer notes, which is why I've nicked it a star, but I'm glad to have spent time with it. If this is your first encounter with the series, go to the first volume, THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY, to understand the impact its voice and world first made on its devotees.
Things are slowing down at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors... April 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Miracle at Speedy Motors is the latest installment in the successful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, by Alexander McCall Smith.
Mma Ramotswe has a case or two to investigate. There are the threatening letters. Phuti Radiphuti has bought Mma Makutsi a bed with a heart, but there is no wedding date. And Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni spends a fortune seeking a miracle treatment for his adopted daughter's condition, without consulting Precious Ramotswe.
In the meantime, there are references to traditional Botswana, lazy apprentices, big glasses, bush tea, and cattle.
If you are a No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency fan, this will make sense. If this is your first experience with Mma Ramotswe, this is not the book to start with.
I am a big fan of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. This one hit all of the features that attract me to this series in the first place, but I've read enough of them that this one came across as... dull. Nothing new. I didn't learn more about Mma Ramotswe, Phuti Radiphuti, Mma Makutsi, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, or Botswana.
But I'm still a fan.
Time for a wedding!
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