Alexander McCall Smith
Author of The No. 1 Ladiesʼ 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
Image credit: Alexander McCall Smith, Hobart 25 August 2008
Series
Works by Alexander McCall Smith
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency / Tears of the Giraffe / Morality for Beautiful Girls / The Kalahari Typing School… (2003) 128 copies
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency / Tears of the Giraffe / Morality for Beautiful Girls / The Kalahari Typing School… (2005) 117 copies
The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Abridged Audio adaptation featuring Adjua Andoh) (2003) 23 copies
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency / Tears of the Giraffe / Morality for Beautiful Girls (2002) 20 copies
[unidentified works] 11 copies
The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even: Stories of Espionage and Revenge 9 copies
Better than Fiction: True Travel Tales from Great Fiction Writers (Lonely Planet Travel Literature) (2017) 9 copies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series (1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. 2. Tears of the Giraffe, 3.… (2020) 8 copies
The Myths (A Short History of Myth / The Penelopiad / Weight / Dream Angus / Helmet of Horror / Lion's Honey) (2006) — Author — 6 copies
The Akimbo Adventures: 1 4 copies
Botswana: In the Footsteps of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency with Alexander McCall Smith (2009) 4 copies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series 20 Books Collection Box Set by Alexander McCall Smith (Books 1 - 20) (2020) 4 copies
The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol. 4: Eight BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations (2019) 3 copies
44 Scotland Street: Series 1-3: Full-cast radio adaptations of the much-loved novels (2017) 3 copies
The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even: Stories of Espionage and Revenge (2023) 3 copies
The Sunday Philosophy Club / Friends, Lovers, Chocolate / The Right Attitude to Rain / The Careful Use of Compliments /… (2009) 3 copies
The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol.3: Seven BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations (2018) 2 copies
No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations (2017) 2 copies
44 Scotland Street 5 Book Collection (44 Scotland Street / Espresso Tales / Love Over Scotland / The World According to… (2005) 2 copies
Friends, lovers, chocolate 2 copies
Isabel Dalhousie series 2 copies
The Harriet Bean 3-Book Omnibus: The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean; Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats; The… (2013) 2 copies
My Italian Holiday 2 copies
44 Scotland Street Series 5 Books Collection Set By Alexander Mccall Smith (The Bertie Project, The Revolving Door Of… (2019) 1 copy
Štedljivo s komplimentima 1 copy
Het Beste Boek 269: Graan / Het Meisje Dat Geluk Had / Met Alle Geweld / Het Orkest Sat de Wereld Redt — Author — 1 copy
A conspiracy of friends 1 copy
Marvellous Mix-ups 1 copy
Three Tall Novels 1 copy
44 Scotland Street Collection (The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, The World According to Bertie, Love Over Scotland)… (2007) 1 copy
A Woman from Botswana 1 copy
East Coast Stories 1 copy
Animal Intelligence 1 copy
A Goose For Christmas 1 copy
Good Morning Killer 1 copy
5 Books! #6-10 ~In the Company of Cheerful Ladies,~Blue Shoes and Happiness,~The Good Husband of Zebra Drive,~The… (2009) 1 copy
The Return of Note 1 copy
The Ceremony 1 copy
Fourtyfour Scotland Street 1 copy
3 Books: Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainment Series Set - Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage… (1960) 1 copy
Still Life 1 copy
Associated Works
Swami and Friends / The Bachelor of Arts / The Dark Room / The English Teacher (1935) — Introduction — 214 copies
The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives (2009) — Contributor — 206 copies
Mr. Sampath: The Printer of Malgudi / The Financial Expert / Waiting for the Mahatma (1948) — Introduction — 137 copies
The Book Lovers' Appreciation Society: Breast Cancer Care Short Story Collection (2009) — Contributor — 91 copies
100 Journeys for the Spirit: Sacred, Inspiring, Mysterious, Enlightening (2010) — Contributor — 53 copies
New Beginnings: New Writing from Bestselling Authors Sold in Aid of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities (2005) — Contributor — 44 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: Assegai • La's Orchestra Saves the World • Envy the Night • The… (2009) — Author — 4 copies
Reader's Digest Select Editions: Assegai • La's Orchestra Saves the World • Envy the Night • For the Love of… (2009) — Author — 3 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: The Murder Artist / Start From Here / At Risk / The No.1 Ladies' Detective… (2005) 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- McCall Smith, R. Alexander
- Birthdate
- 1948-08-24
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia)
- Places of residence
- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Botswana
Swaziland
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK - 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.
Members
Discussions
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
In my opinion, Alex. McC. Smith has not lost his touch with this long-running series. The lyrical physical descriptions, and the gentle observations about husband and wife relations and friendship and "extra low-grade" people and hard work and history - it's all there. Also, there's an interesting storyline about wartime history and an American woman who comes to Africa to search for relatives.
One of my favorite passages is this, spoken by that American woman in a conversation with Mia Ramotswe: My father was from Antigua, which is why, as you can see, I have a bit of Africa in me. He came to work in the US and that's when he met my mother. She was half French, half German, and so you see our background is a bit complicated. Sometimes I think of myself as being half American, half history — as many people are, don't you think? We all have history in our veins.… (more)
One of my favorite passages is this, spoken by that American woman in a conversation with Mia Ramotswe: My father was from Antigua, which is why, as you can see, I have a bit of Africa in me. He came to work in the US and that's when he met my mother. She was half French, half German, and so you see our background is a bit complicated. Sometimes I think of myself as being half American, half history — as many people are, don't you think? We all have history in our veins.… (more)
From a Far and Lovely Country - McCall Smith
Audio performance by Lisette Lecat
3 stars
Mma Ramotswe wakes up on her birthday, but will anyone remember the day? Well, yes, of course they do. Eventually. And the day brings two new clients for The # 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The details don’t matter, and I’ve already forgotten most of them. But something important always stays with me after listening to one of these books. I feel like I’ve had a pleasant afternoon of tea and conversation with friends. Sometimes that’s just the thing I need.… (more)
Audio performance by Lisette Lecat
3 stars
Mma Ramotswe wakes up on her birthday, but will anyone remember the day? Well, yes, of course they do. Eventually. And the day brings two new clients for The # 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The details don’t matter, and I’ve already forgotten most of them. But something important always stays with me after listening to one of these books. I feel like I’ve had a pleasant afternoon of tea and conversation with friends. Sometimes that’s just the thing I need.… (more)
2023-11-19: This was lovely. I don't even know what to say about it beyond it being about decent people being decent. Humanity needs a LOT more examples of that but it turns out that modelling violence and antisocial behavior makes more money so that's mostly what we get. Thanks, capitalism.
This was lovely.
This was lovely.
Lists
AlphaKIT: Brown (1)
Next in Series (1)
Unread books (1)
Sonlight Books (1)
Favourite Books (1)
Africa (3)
A Novel Cure (3)
Books Read in 2019 (10)
Carole's List (12)
Detective Stories (14)
Latin America (1)
Comfort Reads (1)
Urban Fiction (2)
Favorite Series (2)
Latin America (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 282
- Also by
- 46
- Members
- 110,359
- Popularity
- #77
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3,312
- ISBNs
- 3,250
- Languages
- 37
- Favorited
- 260
- About
- 1
- Touchstones
- 2,616
And, yes, the talking shoes do make a cameo appearance!
Precious Ramotswe has two cases on her plate. The first is yet another pro bono for an employee of Mma Potokwani. It seems there is a “Cool Singles Evening Club” where married men are paying fees to be admitted and pass for single. Mma Ramotswe decides to put her apprentice, Charlie, in charge of the investigation. When Mma Makutsi gets involved, an unfortunate situation arises that the agency feels compelled to resolve. Those familiar with Gabarone will chuckle when the owner of the club is revealed.
While dining in a local restaurant, a visitor from Indiana, USA recognizes Mma Ramotswe and asks her help in finding the distant relatives of the man she called grandfather, who is long deceased. The search brings Precious to her beloved hometown and along the way readers learn of some of the history of British rule in Africa.
And there is also the problem of the birthday present dress that has been damaged!
Mma Ramotswe always manages to come up with clever and successful solutions to problems. Her gentle way and penchant for always finding the positive in a situation is balm for the soul.
Usually I binge this series, reading the book all in a day. For this installment, I decided to read a chapter at a time, taking a break in between and allowing time to savor Mma Ramotswe’s wisdom, profound in its simplicity.
This is another feel good addition to the series. It makes a nice afternoon or evening read while curled up with a pot of tea. Fans of McCall Smith’s gentle prose and perceptive musings will welcome this latest endeavor.
Thanks to #netgalley and @aaknopf @pantheonbooks for the ARC… (more)