Our favourite books by Alexander McCall Smith

The stories of Mma Ramotswe, owner of Botswana’s leading – and only – female private detective agency, have become modern classics; funny, tender, moving, insightful. There are currently 15 books in the series and we don’t ever want them to stop.

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Harkening back to the days of Dickens, the story of 44 Scotland Street was first published as a serial in The Scotsman in 2004 – every day for six months. Alexander McCall Smith is now up to book nine in the series set in the house at number 44, with all its eccentrics and oddballs.

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McCall Smith has got Precious Ramotswe in Botswana and Isabel Dalhousie in Edinburgh. Unlike Mma Ramotswe, Ms Dalhousie is an amateur detective – but that hasn’t stopped her earning the nickname of the ‘No 2 Ladies Detective’ …

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The perfect kitchen companion to the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series – favourite recipes of Mma Ramotswe and her friends, alongside the traditions and culture of her native Botswana. This may be slightly stretching it – can a fictional character actually have ‘favourite’ dishes? And Alexander McCall Smith didn’t write it either – it’s by Stuart Brown, though McCall Smith does provide a foreword. But we’re fans of the original novels, so we’ll allow it on the list!

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Find out more about our author takeover on 23 to 27 February