Precious Ramotswe

Mma Precious Ramotswe
Portrayed by	Jill Scott
In-universe information
Occupation	Private detective
Spouse	Rra Matekoni Note Mokoti (divorced)
Children	Motholeli and Puso

Precious Ramotswe is the fictional character in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith.

Biography

Precious Ramotswe is a full-figured, rather jolly woman, and is the first female private detective in Botswana. Her personality is characterized by wisdom, intelligence, and patience, revealed in her approach to her assignments as a private investigator. These have included tracking down missing husbands and children and bringing them back to their families. Precious Ramotswe is the daughter of the late Obed Ramotswe, a Motswana cattle farmer from Mochudi. After a disastrous marriage to Note Mokoti, a jazz musician, and the death of her father, she sold the cattle she inherited and founded The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Gaborone, taking on Grace Makutsi as her secretary. She has a high opinion of herself, which is often borne out in the tactful and effective approach to professional detection. She does not limit herself to merely answering clients' questions, but endeavors to do so with humanity and kindness. Sometimes this means responding to a clients' unspoken need for affirmation or closure; other times it is the subject of the investigation whom she helps, perhaps by urging them to reconcile past bitterness or by not revealing certain details of her discoveries.

Mma Ramotswe's main official source of training is the book The Principles of Private Detection by Clovis Andersen, a fictitious book and author. Fans have often asked Alexander McCall Smith where to find this book, and are disappointed by its nonexistence. He says that he might write it himself one day.

Precious Ramotswe is a traditionalist, both in her adherence to the old Botswana moral values and in her traditional build. She relies on women's social relationships to obtain information with the motherly touch of a woman of a certain age, such as she is. She holds in high respect the Queen, Nelson Mandela and Sir Seretse Khama, whom she often quotes. She loves the melons that grow in her yard, the character of her countrymen, and the austere beauty of the Kalahari. Her favourite drink is red bush tea, and she often promotes it as a therapeutic drink to her clients. In the evenings she often sips her tea on the porch of her modest home on Zebra Drive, grateful for the satisfactions of her life and the fond memory of her honorable, loving father.

Mma Ramotswe's preferred method of travel is her tiny white van (in the TV series, she drives a Datsun B140 "Bakkie" pickup truck). Its mechanical problems brought her together with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, "the finest mechanic in Botswana," whom she had known for many years and who eventually became her husband. Her long-held respect for Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni (she thinks of him uniformly by this formal name) arose from his honest business ethic, his kindness, and his practicality, which is evident in his ability and willingness to repair any machine that can be made servicable, no matter how old. It was upon Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's impulse that they adopted two Basarwa orphans, Motholeli and Puso.

As she says, she is the only lady detective in Botswana; hence the fact that she is number 1.

Jill Scott portrays the character in the BBC/HBO television miniseries.

References

• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith.