Alexander McCall Smith

'It's like ice cream, Mr Flynn,' Bertie continued. 'When you have ice cream, you need to eat it straight away, otherwise it melts. If there are people who haven't got any, you should share it, if you can.

The complete BBC Radio adaptations of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency featuring Botswana's only female private detective agency, run by the irrepressible Precious Ramotswe....

Grace Makutsi’s husband, Phuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market. Phuti has always been concerned with quality and comfort, but this new firm seems interested only in profits....

In the latest book in the widely beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe takes on a case for a childhood acquaintance, but her inquiries will require an even more delicate touch than usual....

It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family....

Glorious short stories from international bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith, in a collection written especially for World Book Day....

Ben and Fee MacTavish and the rest of the School Ship Tobermory crew head down under to take part in a tall ships race, but after a good start the Tobermory runs aground....

The story revolves around the comings and goings at No. 44 Scotland Street, a fictitious building in a real street in Edinburgh....

Once upon a time in Botswana in Africa, there was a little girl called Precious. She would grow up to be famous as Precious Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.....

When a film crew arrives in Tobermory Bay, Ben and Fee are invited to be extras. But their suspicions are soon aroused - is the film crew genuine, or are they up to something sinister? Find out....

There's a new case for the Perfect Passion Company. After a serendipitous meeting in a supermarket, Clea meets the man of her dreams. But having left suddenly without his phone number, she can't stop thinking about what might have been.

The School Ship Tobermory and its intrepid young crew are back in Hebridean waters. When a violent storm blows them off course to a remote island, they discover a fisherman's journal written 100 years ago which tells of a mysterious shipwreck crammed with treasure....

Glasgow for Bertie is the promised land. The city of pies and Irn Bru, far from his controlling mother – his place of escape. But how will he respond to the news of the proposed merging of Edinburgh and Glasgow? A new member of Bertie’s class at school is causing ripples in his social circle....

An endearing stand-alone story from best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith. Val was working as a land girl when the Americans arrived at the nearby airfield in 1944....

From the author of the global best-seller The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency comes a brand new serial novel set in the heart of London....

Isabel Dalhousie thinks often of friends, sometimes of lovers, and on occasion of chocolate. As an Edinburgh philosopher, she is certain of where she stands....

Isabel becomes involved in a delicate paternity case in the 12th instalment of the beloved Isabel Dalhousie Series.....

Mma Ramotswe knows she is very lucky indeed. She has a loving family, good friends and a thriving business doing what she enjoys most - helping people. But the latest mystery she is called upon to solve is distinctly trickier than it initially appears....

Mma Ramotswe has a deft hand in delicate cases, and never allows an act of injustice to pass unanswered. So, when it comes to her attention that a matter involving dubious motives has arisen, and that it will require the utmost discretion to resolve, she has no choice but to investigate.

McCall Smith creates a vivid and fast-moving world in which minor miracles occur when city-dwellers break the habit of a lifetime and talk to their neighbours. And their dogs....