Peter Wimsey and Precious Ramotswe: Castaway Detectives and Companionate Marriage‪.‬

Introduction To the surly South African border guard who asks "How can a woman be a detective?" Mma Precious Ramotswe responds "with dignity, 'Many women are detectives.... Have you not read Agatha Christie?'" (McCall Smith 209). (1) This linguistic power play works well for Mma Ramotswe. Her speech puts the guard on the defensive: "'Are you saying I am not an educated man?' He growled: 'is that what you are saying? That I have not read this Mr. Christie?'" (210). She has her own agenda with the guard: "Perhaps that particular official would think twice before he again decided to bully a woman for no good reason" (210). She had used the same question earlier in the story, at the point when her lawyer questioned her plan to set up a detective agency. On that occasion the lawyer--who had heard of Agatha Christie--admitted that "A woman sees more than a man sees. That is well-known" (61). Mma underscores her victory by pointing out to the lawyer that his zip is half-undone. We see her use language to negotiate the power struggles of post-colonial Botswana: the standard liberal enlightened English of schools, the African English of the border guard, and the traditional gendered discourse of African proverbial wisdom in the lawyer's talk.