Rating: 
Summary: The Adventure Continues...
Review: Following on the heels of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, and Morality for Beautiful Girls, is this-the fourth entry in Smith's series about Botswanan private detective Precious Ramotswe, her master mechanic fiancé Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, their assistant Ms. Makutsi, and their two foster children. Devotees of the series will likely deduce from the title that this particular entry will focus on Ms. Makutsi-former star pupil of the Botswana Secretarial College and expert typist. And they will be right, as the title refers to a school established by Ms. Makutsi in order to supplement her income as assistant detective and assistant garage manager.There is only one real mystery in the slight volume, a man who wishes to make restitution for bad behavior of his some twenty years previously. This calls for Precious to track down two people and handle the matter with her usual delicacy. The only other case is a suspected case of infidelity with no mystery to it at all, and once again Precious's greatest difficulty lies in determining exactly what course of action to take in order to effect the best result for all concerned and achieve cosmic justice. Subplots include the ongoing trials of raising the two foster children, and the founding of a rival detective agency. This latter development held great potential for being a long-running obstacle for the Mma. Ramotswe, but is given short shrift and is dealt with all too easily. As in all the books in the series, Smith aims to portray a positive picture of modern Africa, one all too rarely seen in the West. It is both a celebration of the "old ways" of Africa, and a lament for their decline.
Rating: 
Summary: A Story to Make You Smile
Review: Fourth in a series about The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency of Botswana, The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith is an easy read. There is nothing terribly exciting or riveting about this novel, but the simple storyline will make you smile. In The Kalahari Typing School for Men Mma Precious Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi run a detective agency. Business is slow and a competitor has moved into town so the ladies are forced to develop new ways to earn business and money. Mma Ramotswe investigates a complicated case that requires her to use intuition, tact and foresight. Mma Makutsi creates an entirely new way to make money that will also help elevate her from the ranks of assistant detective and help her lead a more full life. Being perceptive of human behavior, Mma Makutsi sees many men around her falling behind in the business world because of their inability to type. They do not want to take classes and be shown up by women, so they end up falling behind technologically. Being a top graduate of secretarial school, Mma Makutsi decides to open a typing classes geared specifically for men. She is able to make use of her contacts at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and from her secretarial schooldays and suddenly she is in business and finding renewed purpose in her life. As in many good tales, the storylines of Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi become more and more interwoven as the story progresses. The Kalahari Typing School for Men reads like a children's fable written for adults. At no point will the reader be challenged but reading the novel is a pleasure, as Smith's novel reads with the rhythm of life in Botswana.
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Summary: REFRESHING AND TOTALLY IRRESISTIBLE
Review: Hooked. That's what you are. After reading only a few pages of Alexander McCall Smith's delightful tale you're completely in this author's thrall. Episodes in the life of the incorrigible, unconquerable Precious Ramotswe, proprietress of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, are endearing, amusing, and speckled with truths. Possessed with intelligence and human intuition in an abundance that matched her girth Mma Ramotswe (the courteous form of address) has familiarized herself with an instruction manual, "The Principles of Private Detection." Then, equipped with a "tiny white van,"minimal office equipment, an assistant, Mma Makutsi, and three mugs in which to brew redbush tea she opened for business.
She loves Botswana, and feels she knows "how to love the people who live in this place." It is her duty, she believes. "to help them solve the mysteries in their lives." (Not the crimes, mind you, but the mysteries). Much has happened since Mma Ramotswe first entertained these revelatory thoughts. Her business has flourished to the extent that she has been able to buy a home on Zebra Drive and, on the far side of her thirties, which she considers the "finest age to be" she has become engaged to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, the proud and proper owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Now, with the fourth in Alexander Smith's engaging series, "The Kalahari Typing School for Men," she has two adopted children in her care, and is confronted by a rival business run by a macho retired policeman who trumpets that only a man can be a proper detective. Mma Makutsi also faces challenges. Her bank balance is anemic, and her life lacks romance. Then, quite suddenly, "a strikingly good idea" occurs to her: she would open a typing school for men. She realizes that men have to type in order to use computers, but did not learn to type correctly because "they are ashamed to say that they cannot type and they do not want to go and have to learn with a class full of girls." An evening class held in a church hall so that others would think the men were going to a church meeting was the solution. Once the idea was fully formed in her mind Mma Makutsi is so elated that "she began to gyrate round the office in celebratory dance, ululating quietly as she did so, her right hand moving backward and forward before her mouth." Not only is the school an unqualified success, but there is extra-circular activity when a student becomes enamored with Mma Makutsi. Regrettably, there are complications in this pairing - complications that trouble Mma Ramotswe. Equally distressing is Mma Ramotswe's latest client, Mr. Molefelo. Now, a well-to-do engineer Mr. Molefelo once committed what he considers to be egregious sins. He wants to make amends for past wrongs. Thus, it falls to Mma Ramotswe to find those he has misused. These tasks aren't difficult for Botswana's No. 1 lady detective who, possessed with Solomon-like wisdom, also suggests precisely what Mr. Molefelo might do to achieve proper atonement. Spare and neatly crafted, "The Kalahari Typing School For Men" sparkles with African sunshine and Mma Ramotswe's wit. It is refreshing and irresistible, leaving readers eager for more.
- Gail Cooke
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Summary: The Kalahari Tying School for Men
Review: I am admiring the main character, Mms Ramotswe, so much. She has such a wonderful insight into human behavior. The head of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency can handle good people and not so nice people with just the right amount of tact and sincerity. I really enjoyed this deep thinking but not complex read.
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Summary: Kalahari Typing School
Review: I continue to enjoy this delightful series about a set of characters unlike many others. The wisdom and view of life exhibited by our heroine are often startling. I eagerly look forward to the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: The Second Best Book in the Series
Review: I found this book the second best book in the series of the Number 1 Lady's Dectective Agency. It is quaint and touching. It deals with modern issues solved with age old respect and dignity.
Rating: 
Summary: Substance?
Review: I have to admit that I read only up through page 83, which is a little less than half way. Then, I just could not pick it up again. There is no intrigue, morality, imagery and hardly a plot. Someone, let me know if there is any substance in the second half. Please.
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Summary: These books are great.
Review: I spent a couple of weeks in Botswana at the game parks. I was always impressed by how nice the Botswanans were. Have traveled a lot and there is professional courtesy and there are genuinely nice people. All the ones I met were really sweethearted, kind people. Was very happy that these books reflected that culture. And a pretty decent detective story too.
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Summary: HE NEVER DISAPPOINTS
Review: I was first introduced to Alexander McCall Smith's work when my online book discussion group chose THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY as their monthly selection. From the first paragraph, I was hooked by McCall Smith's deceptively simple story and story telling. Precious Ramotswe is a great character: wise and amusing, the kind of person I would love to know. Reading about her and her friends and loved ones, her village, and her country, has enriched my life. Now I want to visit Botswana because McCall Smith, through Precious's eyes, has made the country come alive for me. I own all the books in this series and hope McCall Smith will continue to write about these rich and wonderful characters. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Wayside Stop in Paradise
Review: I'm a neophyte to this series. I guess I walked into the middle of the party, since The Typing School is number 4 of 7, to date. This book was easy reading, comforting, polite, and harking back to another less nasty age of human interaction. No grisly murders or inhuman brutality going on here. Not much crime either. But we have a strong moral compass monitoring the daily melodramas of life in the well-drawn person of Precious Romotswe, and we have an exotic backdrop of Botswana, which is described with precision as a lovely wayside stop in paradise that is slowly caving in to the vagaries of "modern" behavior (read rudeness).
I really liked the Typing School and recommend it as a pleasant resting place between more meaty fare. I also can see how indulging in such bon mots and straightforward writing found here can become habit-forming.
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