I read the first book in this series a few years ago and, from what I saw of my Goodreads review and the slight tickle in my brain, I enjoyed it. I was interested in picking up a straightforward mystery and remembered this series and moved on to book two.
It was fine. Precious Romatswe is referred to in many reviews as the Miss Marple of Botswana, and if you enjoy a homey mystery with a vibrant cast of characters, than you may want to give the series a try. In these books the mystery takes a backseat to the character development and wonderfully descriptive portrait of Botswana, so if you are here for a real page turner, you may be dissatisfied.
I’m super interested in what the people of Botswana think of this book, and of Smith and this empire he has built, as there are now 19 books in the series. I’ve only done a cursory search but it seems he has spent time in Africa and has the best of intentions of highlighting its people. I don’t know enough to be contrary to the world he has created, but in my brief foray into this series he seems to be creating characters that are realistic and kind, and hopefully are a true homage to the people of Botswana.
I’m not going to gobble these up, but I’ll keep the series on the backburner and when I want something familiar and predictable, but in a good way, then I will take another trip to the agency.
I think I meant to try this series but then didn’t want to read about a bunch of women from a man’s perspective? I didn’t even get far enough into looking into the series to discover the author wasn’t from the area, either.
That’s my issue too. He isn’t from the area but he has spent a lot of time there. I want to do some more digging and see if he is heralded or thought of as problematic.
That aside, they are nice comforting mysteries, but it’s hard to parse it out.