Exploring Criminal Investigation Strategies in Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency: a critical analysis

Abstract

Crime, both white and blue-collar, is a toxic phenomenon that tends to eat away society’s moral fibre. It is a world-wide cancer that has bedevilled and debilitated even countries which are considered to be highly developed. For this reason, nations of the world need to collectivelyenhance their crime-busting strategies to eradicate this scourge. This study, therefore, strives to explore criminal investigation mechanisms in the African state of Botswana through a critical analysis of Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (1998).MmaRamotswe is a female character who symbolises war against crime in the novel by establishing a criminal investigation agency. This article is undergirded by the Marxist Literary theory which advocates for the abolition of greed (crime) for social justice and equality. It is a qualitative study which has derived its credence from exploratory research design.Purposive sampling was employed to select The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agencyfrom other novels by Smith because of its relevance to the study. The novel, which serves as primary data, was then critically analysed with the finding and recommendation that crime erodes the moral and the socio-economic fabric of the society, and should, therefore, be eradicated for the advancement and prosperity of the human race.