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Give Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series a try - the first one is The Crocodile on the Sandbank. Similar kind of relatively gentle mystery/thrillers with a strong female lead who is an absolutely wonderful character.

Second the Amelia Peabody series

Thank you both!

Baking Cakes in Kigali. I seem to remember it was lighter than the Mme Ramotswe books, but good to read if you need something easy.

The Agatha Raisin series is light and fun.

If you don't mind going back in time, my surefire comfort read for the whole of my adult life has been Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. I must have read The Grand Sophy more than a dozen times now.

Thank you! Will try these all.

The Jimm Juree books are very similar to the Ladies Detective Agency. They're set in Thailand, not Africa, but have the same simpleness and humour about them. They are crime-based though but in a gentle whodunit way like Mma Ramotswe. The first one is Killed at the Whim of a Hat

I really enjoyed the mobile library series of 'mystery' books by Ian Sansom. A Jewish librarian from north London relocates to a small village in Northern Ireland. Well-written, but easy-to-read. Reminded me of Alexander McCall Smith's writing.

www.goodreads.com/series/41306-mobile-library-mystery

In our review of Vaseem Khan's delightful Inspector Chopra series, we wrote: "...for fans of the popular series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, I can say that Inspector Ashwin Chopra is the Precious Ramotswe of the Indian sub-continent ...."

www.tripfiction.com/crime-mystery-set-in-mumbai/

Happy reading...

Second the Mobile Library series

Exactly the same here - I have read nearly all the No 1 Ladies books, I just finished The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon. I love the characters, the dialogue and the warmth as much as anything.

But I haven't enjoyed Isabel Dalhousie etc anywhere near as much.

I've seen most of the Agatha Raisin TV series - are the books in a similar vein, does anyone know?

Definitely some suggestions here, thanks!

Another vote for Jimm Juree - and though it's not a female lead, his other series starring Dr Siri. It's also a charming series, with lots of strong characters (his two sidekicks at the outset are a female nurse and a Down Syndrome morgue assistant) - Colin Cotteril is one of my go-to comfort reads.

I took a while to get into Agatha Raisin: I thought they'd be right up my street, but I read the first four or five and was disappointed. I put them aside for a few years, and the next time I tried, I got them. I don't love them in the same way I do Mma Ramotswe, Jimm and Dr Siri, though: they're light and fun, but read like an outsider's impression of village life, rather than someone who really knows and understands iyswim, which I think comes through strongly with the other series.