When the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency's Precious Ramotswe was a little girl, she said to herself, "Wouldn't it be nice to be a detective?" She is smart and likes to ask questions, both of which are excellent qualities in a detective. In her village in Botswana, there is a mystery brewing over the theft of delicious treats from Precious' school, and her new friend Poloko has been accused. Precious uses her intuition and her smarts to solve her very first mystery, and launch what will one day become an illustrious detective career.

Although young readers won't be familiar with the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency series yet, their mothers may well be and will enjoy introducing youngsters to Precious in her early days. Precious is a bright and inquisitive girl who does not rush to judgement when circumstantial evidence seems to point in one direction. There are nice lessons in this quick read about learning to disregard the comments of others, and about the perils of making assumptions without proof. The author does a nice job of engaging the reader with lots of "Wouldn't you..." questions, and then includes a nice reader's guide at the end with pronunciation of the African characters names, bits of information about Botswana, as well as a list of possible discussion questions. This is a relatively short read with artistic illustrations, and it would appeal to a young reader looking for something a bit different from the norm in early chapter books. It would also make a nice read aloud for an early elementary class.

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