Alexander McCall Smith
Born: 24 August 1948 (age 69)
Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
Occupation: Writer, professor
Nationality: British
Alexander McCall Smith, 69 now, achieved worldwide fame only in his fifties with the debut of the highly acclaimed ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’, a series of novels set in Botswana featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe, who feels compelled to ‘help people with problems in their lives’, as the protagonist. Altogether 18 novels have been published in the series between 1998 and 2017 and they have been translated into 40 languages and sold more than 20 million copies in English alone. The books in the series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, aren’t your regular run-of-the-mill detective stories. Here Mma Ramotswe just happens to solve crimes as she goes about her life, all the while drinking copious amounts of tea. In the first book, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. And then there is a missing 11-year-old boy, who seems to have been snatched by witchdoctors. The plots are usually simple and the solution simpler but the wit and wisdom with which Mma Ramotswe seems to solve the cases are delightful, to say the least.
All the books in the series work wonderfully as stand-alone books, although you would do well to read them in order if you want to follow Mma Ramotswe’s life properly. What’s also nice about the books is that the stories feel very real. There isn’t that thrill element in any of the books yet they manage to hold your attention and you are, all the while, rooting for Mma Ramotswe who, with her self-righteous ways, makes you smile despite the ridiculousness of many of her actions. She also isn’t made out to be a typical heroine with no flaws and that is what is refreshing about the series.
Smith writes with a great deal of gentle wisdom and good cheer and his books make you happy and at ease while reading and that, we think, is one of the main attributes of a good author. Crime writer Ian Rankin claimed that as the world becomes more politically turbulent, it will find itself increasingly in need of Smith’s heart-warming novels and reading one of the books in this series, that marks its 20th anniversary this year, you will realize that perhaps truer words have never been spoken .
