Alexander McCall Smith: an Introduction

I have to call this piece an introduction to this remarkable author - Alexander McCall Smith-since I have read only about 14 novels of his prodigious output. McCall Smith, his surname, has authored some 80 works. Let me tell you about two different series of his novels.

The first of his works to come to my attention was his 1999 No. I Ladies' Detective Agency, in which Mma Precious Ramotswe opens a detective agency using the proceeds from the sale of a herd of cattle she inherited from her beloved father. It is the only detective agency  in all of Botswana;,  which Mma Ramotswe  establishes  in Gabarone,  Botswana's  capitol.  One of her early  cases  is that of a missing  husband, whom she discovers has been converted to evangelical Christianity and was eaten by a crocodile while awaiting baptism by immersion in a river. She delivers the missing husband's wrist watch to the widow. Other cases involve moral and  cultural problems  in the lives of her clients. McCall Smith, a Scotsman born and raised in what was then Southern Rhodesia and now is Zimbabwe, clearly admire  the ways  in  which  his characters  balance modem developments and traditional  culture.  Mma Ramotswe,  a single lady "traditionallybuilt," casts approving eyes on Mr. J. L. B. Maketoni, owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, whom she marries at the end of the novel.

All in all, this novel and the series it introduces are a charming evocation of the small but significant realities of daily life in Botswana. A friend of mine who has lived in Africa for some years likes this series very much, partly because it gives such a delightful and authentic limning of African women, their shrewdness and their generosity.

Isabel Dalhousie, though, is my favorite McCall Smith character. She live in Edinburg and is the owner and editor of an academic journal, The Review of Applied Ethics. Isabel, in her early forties, is a woman of intellect and culture who moves easily among the professional circles of Edinburg society.  She attracts requests to solve genteel mysteries, because she's good at it. In a recent novel of the series devoted to her, Isabel is asked to solve the disappearance of a Poussin painting from a country mansion near Edinburg. While solving the mystery (it's a family affair), she pays automatic attention to ethical dimensions of her actions and those of the people in her life, always in a way that strikes me as generous and appealing. She solves the case while living her life fully-editing her Review, loving her husband and her toddler, sorting out a child- rearing misunderstanding with her son's governess. She also moves a father and a rebellious son toward reconciliation-all the while acting with generosity (there's that word again) and thoughtfulness.

There is a lot more to McCall Smith, but space limits me this time out. Perhaps I'll review his The Forever Girl in a later issue of our Newsletter. If you haven't already done so, give Alexander McCall Smith a try.