Alexander McCall Smith
Author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
About the Author
Alexander McCall Smith was born on August 24, 1948 in Zimbabwe. He was a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but he left in 2005 to focus on his writing. He has written over 60 books, including specialist academic titles including Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law show more of Botswana, short story collections including Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and children's books including The Perfect Hamburger. He is best known for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also writes the Corduroy Mansions, Isabel Dalhousie and 44 Scotland Street series. He has received numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award and the 2004 United Kingdom's Author of the Year Award. His book, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he received a CBE for his services in literature. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Alexander McCall Smith
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency | Tears of the Giraffe | Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001) 28 copies, 2 reviews
Altering the Blueprint: The Ethics of Genetics [A University-Level Course] (2004) 23 copies, 1 review
The Slice of No. 1 Celebration Storybook: Fifteen Years with Mma Ramotswe (2013) 16 copies, 1 review
[Title missing] 12 copies
Lonely Planet Better than Fiction: True Travel Tales from Great Fiction Writers (Lonely Planet Travel Literature) (2017) 10 copies
The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook, Vol.2: Eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations (2018) 8 copies
The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol. 4: Eight BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations (2019) 4 copies
The Big Cats Dance Party 4 copies
Tears of the Giraffe / Morality for Beautiful Girls / In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (2003) 4 copies
Doctors, Detectives, Common Sense 4 copies
Bertie's Christmas 3 copies
The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol.3: Seven BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations (2018) 3 copies
Men Don't Wear Pink 2 copies
Special Seasonal 2 copies
No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations (2017) 2 copies
The Sunday Philosophy Club | Friends, Lovers, Chocolate | The Right Attitude to Rain (2015) 2 copies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series – Volume 1: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Beautiful Girls (2015) 2 copies
Akimbo of Africa 2 copies
My Italian Holiday 2 copies
Precious och Grace 2 copies
A Precious Christmas 2 copies
L'insostenibile leggerezza degli scone (Le storie del 44 Scotland Street) (Italian Edition) 2 copies
The Problem of Men 2 copies
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol.5: Four BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations (2021) 1 copy
IL CLUB DELLE VACCHE GRASSE 1 copy
Just the Attitude 1 copy
East Coast Stories 1 copy
Animal Intelligence 1 copy
Mma Ramotswe and Rra Burns 1 copy
A Goose for Christmas 1 copy
Under the Acacia 1 copy
The Return of Note 1 copy
44 Scotland Street Collection (The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, The World According to Bertie, Love Over Scotland) (2011) 1 copy
The Ceremony 1 copy
Good Morning Killer 1 copy
Marvellous Mix-ups 1 copy
Still Life 1 copy
Der talentierte Herr Varg: Neues aus dem Dezernat für heikle Fälle. Kriminalroman (Ulf "Wolf" Varg, Band 2) (2022) 1 copy
The Shape of Ladies 1 copy
Het Beste Boek 269: Graan / Het Meisje Dat Geluk Had / Met Alle Geweld / Het Orkest Sat de Wereld Redt — Author — 1 copy, 1 review
Čudo u brzim motorima 1 copy
Associated Works
Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm and Other Stories (1940) — Introduction, some editions — 350 copies, 14 reviews
Swami and Friends / The Bachelor of Arts / The Dark Room / The English Teacher (1935) — Introduction — 243 copies, 3 reviews
The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives (2009) — Contributor — 239 copies, 5 reviews
Mr. Sampath: The Printer of Malgudi / The Financial Expert / Waiting for the Mahatma (1948) — Introduction — 165 copies, 3 reviews
The Book Lovers' Appreciation Society: Breast Cancer Care Short Story Collection (2009) — Contributor — 97 copies, 1 review
The No. 1 Ladies's Detective Agency: The Complete First Season (2009) — Original novel — 88 copies, 2 reviews
An Innocent Abroad: Life-Changing Trips from 35 Great Writers (2014) — Contributor — 87 copies, 4 reviews
100 Journeys for the Spirit: Sacred, Inspiring, Mysterious, Enlightening (2010) — Contributor — 67 copies
New Beginnings: New Writing from Bestselling Authors Sold in Aid of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities (2005) — Contributor — 46 copies
Better Than Fiction 2: True Adventures from 30 Great Fiction Writers (2015) — Contributor — 34 copies
Reader's Digest Select Editions 2010 v01 #307: Gone Tomorrow / Lost & Found / The Murder of King Tut / La's Orchestra Saves the World (2010) — Author — 14 copies
Livros Condensados: O Miradouro | O Jardineiro Francês | A Última Aula | A Orquestra de La Salva o Mundo (2010) — Author — 5 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: The Murder Artist • Start From Here • At Risk • The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2005) 5 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Select Editions: Assegai • La's Orchestra Saves the World • Envy the Night • For the Love of Julie (2009) — Author — 4 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: Assegai • La's Orchestra Saves the World • Envy the Night • The Various Flavours of Coffee (2009) — Author — 3 copies
Livros Condensados: Algum Risco | A Alquimia do Amor | Premeditado | Agência nº 1 de Mulheres-Detectives (2006) — Contributor — 2 copies
Livros Condensados: Nada a perder | A Orquestra de La salva o mundo | A pirâmide | A garota que caçava a lua — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- McCall Smith, R. Alexander
- Birthdate
- 1948-08-24
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Edinburgh (LL.B|PhD)
Christian Brothers College, Bulawayo - Occupations
- author
novelist
writer
professor (Medical Law) - Organizations
- The Really Terrible Orchestra
Royal Society of Edinburgh (Fellow ∙ 2001) - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander, 2006)
British Book Award (Author of the Year, 2004)
Edinburgh University's School of Law, Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws, 2007 - Agent
- Caroline Walsh (David Higham Associates)
- Short biography
- ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH has a double existence. He is a Professor of Medical Law, but also an author who has now written over fifty books on a wide range of subjects. These range from specialist titles such as 'Forensic Aspects of Sleep', (the only book on the subject) to 'The Criminal Law of Botswana' (also the only book on the subject) and from the widely translated 'The Perfect Hamburger' (a children's novel) to 'Portuguese Irregular Verbs' (a collection of stories about eccentric German professors). His collection of African stories, 'Children of Wax', received critical acclaim and has been the subject of an award-winning film.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia)
- Places of residence
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Botswana
Swaziland
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK - Map Location
- Scotland, UK
Members
Discussions
Anyone Read Alexander McCall Smith's Emma? in I Love Jane Austen (October 2015)
March Read - NO SPOILERS - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in The Green Dragon (March 2013)
March Read - Spoilers - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in The Green Dragon (March 2013)
#1 Ladies Detective Agency in All Books Africa (May 2009)
Reviews
The Jane Austen Project is what I like to think of as 'car crash fiction' - you know you should avert your eyes from the suffering of others, but sometimes you just can't help staring. Even an early glimpse at the horrific smash-up that is Alexander McCall Smith's modern retelling of Emma didn't put me off (but I did wait for a library copy - no way in hell was I paying £10 for the dubious dishonour!) Reader, take heed - the low star reviews of this disastrous reworking are there to spare show more future pain!
Oh, where to start. I think the basic problem with McCall Smith's Emma is that old balancing act of trying to stay rigidly true to the original while creating a fresh twist on two hundred year old characters. The interwoven threads of Austen's plot have undergone the 'jigsaw puzzle in a charity shop' treatment, with too many missing pieces to recreate the picture on the box. Emma, for instance, no longer has the excuse of a sheltered upbringing amongst doting family to excuse her behaviour - having been to school, and university, McCall's Emma is basically just an acid-tongued bitch. George Knightley still lives next door, but although we are told how pally he and Emma have become since she returned home (to Norfolk!), there is little evidence and even less chemistry. Emma tries to foist Harriet on Elton, but Elton drunkenly rejects her friend, then crashes into a ditch on his way home. (I was actually dreading the modern take on Elton 'making violent love' to Emma!) And Jane and Frank need not have bothered attending - I got the distinct impression that the author's notes ran as follows: 'Jane F. - orphan, Campbells, blah blah - PIANO!'
McCall Smith also spends far too much time wandering off on tangents - we learn more about the previous owner of Randalls and the solar panel installer called Ronnie who runs off with Knightley's one and only girlfriend - and attempting Austen-style 'social commentary' - religion, international adoption and historical guilt - than developing the characters or the plot. I love Austen's novel so much because the characters come alive for me, and even though nothing seems to happen on the surface, the reader cares so much for the everyday lives of Highbury that even a cancelled ball and an outing to Box Hill are worth reading about. Not so here. The characters are off-kilter, the dialogue is stilted, and Alexander McCall Smith is obviously struggling - and failing - to understand the heroine throughout. Is she a closet lesbian ('I am not interested in girls. I'm just not') or just generally sex-obsessed ('Emma beamed with pleasure. Sex. Miss Taylor and James Weston')? Either the author was inspired by Emma Tennant, or Emma's situation does not translate well to the modern day.
What I imagine was supposed to be a wry parody of Austen's longest and cleverest novel - McCall Smith is very fond of poking fun at 'old fashioned' references to governesses, gentlemen farmers and making up numbers at dinner parties - has actually turned into more of a haphazard York Notes summary of the source material. Reading this revised edition, however, would likely only confuse any lazy first-time readers - even more than watching the 1996 film adaptation! - and any lover of Austen (and Emma in particular) should keep their distance. Revisit the original characters instead! show less
Oh, where to start. I think the basic problem with McCall Smith's Emma is that old balancing act of trying to stay rigidly true to the original while creating a fresh twist on two hundred year old characters. The interwoven threads of Austen's plot have undergone the 'jigsaw puzzle in a charity shop' treatment, with too many missing pieces to recreate the picture on the box. Emma, for instance, no longer has the excuse of a sheltered upbringing amongst doting family to excuse her behaviour - having been to school, and university, McCall's Emma is basically just an acid-tongued bitch. George Knightley still lives next door, but although we are told how pally he and Emma have become since she returned home (to Norfolk!), there is little evidence and even less chemistry. Emma tries to foist Harriet on Elton, but Elton drunkenly rejects her friend, then crashes into a ditch on his way home. (I was actually dreading the modern take on Elton 'making violent love' to Emma!) And Jane and Frank need not have bothered attending - I got the distinct impression that the author's notes ran as follows: 'Jane F. - orphan, Campbells, blah blah - PIANO!'
McCall Smith also spends far too much time wandering off on tangents - we learn more about the previous owner of Randalls and the solar panel installer called Ronnie who runs off with Knightley's one and only girlfriend - and attempting Austen-style 'social commentary' - religion, international adoption and historical guilt - than developing the characters or the plot. I love Austen's novel so much because the characters come alive for me, and even though nothing seems to happen on the surface, the reader cares so much for the everyday lives of Highbury that even a cancelled ball and an outing to Box Hill are worth reading about. Not so here. The characters are off-kilter, the dialogue is stilted, and Alexander McCall Smith is obviously struggling - and failing - to understand the heroine throughout. Is she a closet lesbian ('I am not interested in girls. I'm just not') or just generally sex-obsessed ('Emma beamed with pleasure. Sex. Miss Taylor and James Weston')? Either the author was inspired by Emma Tennant, or Emma's situation does not translate well to the modern day.
What I imagine was supposed to be a wry parody of Austen's longest and cleverest novel - McCall Smith is very fond of poking fun at 'old fashioned' references to governesses, gentlemen farmers and making up numbers at dinner parties - has actually turned into more of a haphazard York Notes summary of the source material. Reading this revised edition, however, would likely only confuse any lazy first-time readers - even more than watching the 1996 film adaptation! - and any lover of Austen (and Emma in particular) should keep their distance. Revisit the original characters instead! show less
Reading The Joy and Light Bus Company, the latest edition in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is, at least to me, the book we all need right now. It's like wrapping yourself in a warm cozy blanket on a cold night. This time around, it is less about the mystery, although of course there is one, and more about the personal relationships. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is excited to attend a seminar on how to grow your business. However, when the key speaker is someone he knew show more from school, he feels like a failure. However, that changes when the man approaches him and suggests they start a new business, a bus company. When he tells Mma Precious Ramotswe, she doesn't share his excitement, worried about the cost since new businesses are always risky and especially as he will put his garage with her detective agency attached up as collateral.
Still, she has her agency to run with the always helpful but somewhat excitable Mma Makutsi's aid. Their latest case concerns a man who is concerned that his elderly father has recently written a new will leaving a share to his nurse. He is convinced the nurse is taking advantage of his declining father and wants Precious to investigate. Both situations seem to spell worry for Precious but, as always, she and Grace tackle them with wit, kindness and not a little help from The Principlea of Private Detection
Like all of Smith's books, it is a softly kind read with characters that feel like friends or at least people you'd love to have as friends. This is the 22nd edition to the series but it is as enjoyable as the first ones. If you have never read any of the books in the series, it can be read as a standalone but I recommend the rest - if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a little humour, a lot of humanity, and a satisfying ending, this is the series for you.
Thanks to Netgally and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less
Still, she has her agency to run with the always helpful but somewhat excitable Mma Makutsi's aid. Their latest case concerns a man who is concerned that his elderly father has recently written a new will leaving a share to his nurse. He is convinced the nurse is taking advantage of his declining father and wants Precious to investigate. Both situations seem to spell worry for Precious but, as always, she and Grace tackle them with wit, kindness and not a little help from The Principlea of Private Detection
Like all of Smith's books, it is a softly kind read with characters that feel like friends or at least people you'd love to have as friends. This is the 22nd edition to the series but it is as enjoyable as the first ones. If you have never read any of the books in the series, it can be read as a standalone but I recommend the rest - if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a little humour, a lot of humanity, and a satisfying ending, this is the series for you.
Thanks to Netgally and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less
This is the fourth Isabel Dalhousie novel, as I am pleased to note Pantheon is now marketing them, not mysteries. Now I wonder why my library still keeps them in the mysteries...?
It's a lovely, warm way to spend a frustrating day's end, reading a well-written book about quiet, domestic things, and feeling thereby that one has checked in on the doings of some rather remote, but nonetheless cherished, friends. That's the charm of the Isabel Dalhousie novels for me. It's just smooth sailing show more such as this that gets comparatively little respect, critical or commercial; how glad I am that Precious Ramotswe has given McCall Smith the megaphone that brought these unfashionably serene books to a broad, general market.
And how delightedly I received this particular book! The previous entry in the series wasn't very good at all, seeming to me to have been composed on a laptop perched on the author's knee while traveling to signings, clunked onto the never-the-right-height hotel desk for a fast few hundred before passing out, and edited by fax while jouncing over unpaved roads in Botswana. While I'm not quite ready to forget that readerly disappointment, I'm a long way from unhappy after this evening's pleasures.
Isabel does several interesting things in this book, and does them with verve. I think it was this sense of verve that I missed in book three, "The Right Attitude to Rain."
Cat, Isabel's niece, appears again in this book, though she isn't as central a character...this is but one example of the evolution of the series, that natural fading in and out of some characters. It's just like life. Only better...it takes less time. Recommended, no reservations, for anyone needing a quiet place to relax and have a good conversation with good people. show less
It's a lovely, warm way to spend a frustrating day's end, reading a well-written book about quiet, domestic things, and feeling thereby that one has checked in on the doings of some rather remote, but nonetheless cherished, friends. That's the charm of the Isabel Dalhousie novels for me. It's just smooth sailing show more such as this that gets comparatively little respect, critical or commercial; how glad I am that Precious Ramotswe has given McCall Smith the megaphone that brought these unfashionably serene books to a broad, general market.
And how delightedly I received this particular book! The previous entry in the series wasn't very good at all, seeming to me to have been composed on a laptop perched on the author's knee while traveling to signings, clunked onto the never-the-right-height hotel desk for a fast few hundred before passing out, and edited by fax while jouncing over unpaved roads in Botswana. While I'm not quite ready to forget that readerly disappointment, I'm a long way from unhappy after this evening's pleasures.
Isabel does several interesting things in this book, and does them with verve. I think it was this sense of verve that I missed in book three, "The Right Attitude to Rain."
Cat, Isabel's niece, appears again in this book, though she isn't as central a character...this is but one example of the evolution of the series, that natural fading in and out of some characters. It's just like life. Only better...it takes less time. Recommended, no reservations, for anyone needing a quiet place to relax and have a good conversation with good people. show less
Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, takes on an unusual case for the owner of a football team. Once the best football team in Botswana, the Kalahari Swoopers are on a prolonged losing streak. The owner believes someone on the team is deliberately causing the team to lose. It's Mma Ramotswe's job to find out who. She will need help from her assistant, Grace Makutsi, to interview the many team members in a timely fashion. However, Mma Makutsi is distracted by show more her nemesis from the Botswana Secretarial College, Violet Sephotho, who has just been hired by Mma Makutsi's fiance, Phuti Radiphuti, to sell beds in his Double Comfort Furniture Shop. Mma Ramotswe must also deal with the loss of her beloved white van.
Nothing much happens in these gentle African mysteries, yet I find these books difficult to put down once I start reading. Precious Ramotswe's musings about her beloved Botswana, her late father Obed Ramotswe, and human nature in general, always remind me of the non-material blessings I enjoy in my own small corner of the world – health, a comfortable home, a supportive family, good friends and neighbors, and the companionship of my sweet dog. show less
Nothing much happens in these gentle African mysteries, yet I find these books difficult to put down once I start reading. Precious Ramotswe's musings about her beloved Botswana, her late father Obed Ramotswe, and human nature in general, always remind me of the non-material blessings I enjoy in my own small corner of the world – health, a comfortable home, a supportive family, good friends and neighbors, and the companionship of my sweet dog. show less
Lists
Latin America (1)
Latin America (1)
Poetry (1)
Unread books (1)
Comfort Reads (1)
el (1)
Next in Series (1)
Favourite Books (1)
Detective Stories (14)
Africa (3)
A Novel Cure (3)
Urban Fiction (2)
Books Read in 2019 (10)
Carole's List (12)
Sonlight Books (1)
Favorite Series (2)
AlphaKIT: Brown (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 311
- Also by
- 51
- Members
- 125,385
- Popularity
- #59
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3,691
- ISBNs
- 3,419
- Languages
- 34
- Favorited
- 264
