Alexander McCall Smith Books in Order: Complete Book List

By Anna Marie CarrollMystery

Looking for Alexander McCall Smith books in order? His bibliography is huge, and it can be hard to tell which books belong with which series. The simplest way to sort it out is to start with the major series, then move into the standalones, children’s books, collections, nonfiction, and academic titles.

I’d begin with The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency if you’re new to him. But if you already know which corner of his work interests you most, you can jump straight to that section below.

Jump to:

Where to Start with Alexander McCall Smith

If you want the most natural starting point, start with The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. It’s his best-known series and gives you the warm, character-first style many readers associate with him.

For Edinburgh-set fiction, start with 44 Scotland Street.

For Isabel Dalhousie, begin with The Sunday Philosophy Club.

For Detective Varg, start with The Department of Sensitive Crimes.

If you want a standalone first, I’d choose La’s Orchestra Saves the World, The Pavilion in the Clouds, or The Winds from Further West.

Alexander McCall Smith Books by Series

No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Books

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books follow Precious Ramotswe in Botswana. Each book has its own case, but the relationships, businesses, and recurring characters build over time, so publication order is the best reading order.

  1. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998)
  2. Tears of the Giraffe (2000)
  3. Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001)
  4. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002)
  5. The Full Cupboard of Life (2003)
  6. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (2004)
  7. Blue Shoes and Happiness (2006)
  8. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (2007)
  9. The Miracle at Speedy Motors (2008)
  10. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (2009)
  11. The Double Comfort Safari Club (2010)
  12. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party (2011)
  13. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (2012)
  14. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (2013)
  15. The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café (2014)
  16. The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (2015)
  17. Precious and Grace (2016)
  18. The House of Unexpected Sisters (2017)
  19. The Colors of All the Cattle (2018)
  20. To the Land of Long Lost Friends (2019)
  21. How to Raise an Elephant (2020)
  22. The Joy and Light Bus Company (2021)
  23. A Song of Comfortable Chairs (2022)
  24. From a Far and Lovely Country (2023)
  25. The Great Hippopotamus Hotel (2024)
  26. In the Time of Five Pumpkins (2025)
  27. The Big Cats Dance Party (2026)

Other No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Stories

There are also shorter Precious Ramotswe stories and collections connected to the series. These are optional, but they’re worth adding if you want the fuller picture.

  1. The Cleverness of Ladies (2012) (Out of print)
  2. Precious Ramotswe (2022)

Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Books

The Professor Dr. von Igelfeld books are comic academic adventures. They’re much shorter than McCall Smith’s other long-running series, and publication order keeps the character’s misadventures in the right sequence.

  1. Portuguese Irregular Verbs (2003)
  2. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs (2003)
  3. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances (2003)
  4. Unusual Uses for Olive Oil (2011)
  5. Your Inner Hedgehog (2021)
  6. The Lost Language of Oysters (2025)

Isabel Dalhousie Books

The Isabel Dalhousie novels follow an Edinburgh philosopher, editor, and amateur sleuth. The individual mysteries matter, but Isabel’s personal life and recurring relationships matter even more, so I’d read these in order.

  1. The Sunday Philosophy Club (2004)
  2. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate (2005)
  3. The Right Attitude to Rain (2006)
  4. The Careful Use of Compliments (2007)
  5. The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday / The Comfort of Saturdays (2008)
  6. The Lost Art of Gratitude (2009)
  7. The Charming Quirks of Others (2010)
  8. The Forgotten Affairs of Youth (2011)
  9. The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds (2012)
  10. The Novel Habits of Happiness (2015)
  11. A Distant View of Everything (2017)
  12. The Quiet Side of Passion (2018)
  13. The Geometry of Holding Hands (2020)
  14. The Sweet Remnants of Summer (2022)
  15. The Conditions of Unconditional Love (2024)
  16. The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion (2026)

Isabel Dalhousie Short Stories

  1. The Perils of Morning Coffee (2011)
  2. At the Reunion Buffet (2015)
  3. Sweet, Thoughtful Valentine (2016)

44 Scotland Street Books

44 Scotland Street is an Edinburgh-set ensemble series rather than a straight mystery series. Because the characters’ lives carry forward from book to book, publication order is the best reading order.

  1. 44 Scotland Street (2005)
  2. Espresso Tales (2005)
  3. Love Over Scotland (2006)
  4. The World According to Bertie (2007)
  5. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones (2008)
  6. The Importance of Being Seven (2009)
  7. Bertie Plays the Blues (2011)
  8. Sunshine on Scotland Street (2012)
  9. Bertie’s Guide to Life and Mothers (2013)
  10. The Revolving Door of Life (2015)
  11. The Bertie Project (2016)
  12. A Time of Love and Tartan (2017)
  13. The Peppermint Tea Chronicles (2019)
  14. A Promise of Ankles (2020)
  15. Love in the Time of Bertie (2021)
  16. The Enigma of Garlic (2022)
  17. The Stellar Debut of Galactica Macfee (2023)
  18. Bertie’s Theory of Ice Cream (2025)

Corduroy Mansions Books

The Corduroy Mansions books began as a serial and follow the residents of a London apartment building. Read them in publication order.

  1. Corduroy Mansions (2009)
  2. The Dog Who Came in from the Cold (2010)
  3. A Conspiracy of Friends (2011)

Detective Varg Books

Detective Varg is McCall Smith’s Scandinavian Blanc series. It’s gentler than Nordic noir, with Ulf Varg solving unusual cases for the Department of Sensitive Crimes.

  1. The Department of Sensitive Crimes (2019)
  2. The Talented Mr. Varg (2020)
  3. The Man with the Silver Saab (2021)
  4. The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf (2023)

Detective Varg Short Stories

  1. Varg in Love (2012) (Out of print)
  2. Scandinavian Noir in Twelve Chapters (2018) (Out of print)
  3. The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists (2019)

Myths Books

McCall Smith contributed one book to the Canongate Myths series.

  1. Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams (2006)

Austen Project Books

The Austen Project invited modern authors to retell Jane Austen novels. McCall Smith wrote Emma, but I’ve included the full project list for context.

  1. Sense & Sensibility (2013) (by Joanna Trollope)
  2. Northanger Abbey (2014) (by Val McDermid)
  3. Emma (2014) (by Alexander McCall Smith)
  4. Eligible (2016) (by Curtis Sittenfeld)

Paul Stuart Books

The Paul Stuart books follow a writer abroad. Read them in publication order.

  1. My Italian Bulldozer (2017)
  2. The Second-Worst Restaurant in France (2019)

Perfect Passion Company Books

The Perfect Passion Company stories follow a matchmaking agency in Edinburgh. The short stories come before the full-length novels.

  1. Cook for Me (2023) (Short story)
  2. A Laborer in the Vineyard of Love (2023) (Short story)
  3. The Perfect Passion Company (2024)
  4. Looking for You (2025)

Other Alexander McCall Smith Books

Standalone Books

These books are not part of his major recurring series. You can read them in any order, though publication order is useful if you like seeing how an author’s style changes over time.

  1. Uncle Gangster (1989) (Out of print)
  2. La’s Orchestra Saves the World (2008)
  3. Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party (2014)
  4. The Forever Girl (2014)
  5. The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse (2017)
  6. The Pavilion in the Clouds (2022)
  7. The Private Life of Spies (2023)
  8. The Love Story of Herb la Fouche (2024)
  9. The Winds from Further West (2024)
  10. The Private Side of Friendship (2025)

Children’s and Middle Grade Books

Children’s Books

McCall Smith has also written many children’s books. Several early titles are out of print, so I’ve kept the list focused on first publication order and marked those older titles where needed.

  1. White Hippo (1980) (Out of print)
  2. The Little Theatre (1982) (Out of print)
  3. The Perfect Hamburger (1982) (Out of print)
  4. On the Road (1987) (Out of print)
  5. Film Boy (1988) (Out of print)
  6. Alix and the Tigers (1988) (Out of print)
  7. Mike’s Magic Seeds (1988) (Out of print)
  8. The Joke Machine (1990) (Out of print)
  9. The Ice-Cream Bicycle (1990) (Out of print)
  10. Suzy Magician (1990) (Out of print)
  11. The Tin Dog (1990) (Out of print)
  12. Marzipan Max (1991) (Out of print)
  13. The Girl Who Changed the Weather (1991) (Out of print)
  14. The Spaghetti Tangle (1991) (Out of print)
  15. Calculator Annie (1992) (Out of print)
  16. Springy Jane (1992) (Out of print)
  17. The Doughnut Ring (1992) (Out of print)
  18. The Princess Trick (1992) (Out of print)
  19. Who Invented Peanut Butter? (1994) (Out of print)
  20. My Chameleon Uncle (1993) (Out of print)
  21. The Muscle Machine (1993) (Out of print)
  22. Crazy Crocs (1994) (Out of print)
  23. Paddy and the Ratcatcher (1994) (Out of print)
  24. The Banana Machine (1994) (Out of print)
  25. Billy Rubbish (1995) (Out of print)
  26. The Bubblegum Tree (1996) (Out of print)
  27. The Watermelon Boys (1996) (Out of print)
  28. The Popcorn Pirates (1999) (Out of print)
  29. Monkey Boy (2000) (Out of print)
  30. Teacher Trouble (1994) (Out of print)
  31. Good Dog Lion (2014)
  32. Marvellous Mix-ups (2016)
  33. Boing Boing (2016)
  34. Hari & His Electric Feet (2017)
  35. Freddie Mole (2018)
  36. Max Champion and the Great Race Car Robbery (2018)
  37. Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo (2020)

Harriet Bean Books

  1. The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean (1990)
  2. Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats (1991)
  3. The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean (1993)

Akimbo Books

  1. Akimbo and the Lions (1992)
  2. Akimbo and the Crocodile Man (1993)
  3. Akimbo and the Elephants (1990)
  4. Akimbo and the Snakes (2006)
  5. Akimbo and the Baboons (2008)

Max & Maddy Books

  1. Max & Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery (1997)
  2. Max & Maddy and the Bursting Balloons Mystery (1997)

Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Cases Books

  1. The Great Cake Mystery (2009)
  2. Precious and the Puggies (2010) (also published as Precious and the Monkeys)
  3. Precious and the Mystery of Meerkat Hill (2012)
  4. Precious and the Mystery of the Missing Lion (2013)
  5. Precious and the Zebra Necklace (2015)
  6. Young Precious: The Collected Adventures (2018) (Out of print)

The School Ship Tobermory Books

  1. School Ship Tobermory (2015)
  2. The Sands of Shark Island (2016)
  3. The Race to Kangaroo Cliff (2017)
  4. The Secret of the Dark Waterfall (2019)

Big-Top Mysteries

  1. The Case of the Vanishing Granny (2019)
  2. The Great Clown Conundrum (2019)

Short Story Collections and Poetry

Short Story Collections

These collections gather McCall Smith’s short fiction, folktales, and shorter standalone pieces.

  1. Children of Wax: African Folk Tales (1989) (Out of print)
  2. Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations (1995)
  3. “Trouble at the North Pole” and Other Stories (1996) (Out of print)
  4. The Perfect Hamburger and Other Delicious Stories (2001) (Out of print)
  5. The Girl Who Married a Lion: And Other Tales from Africa (2004)
  6. The Baboons Who Went This Way and That: Folktales from Africa (2006) (Out of print)
  7. Trains and Lovers (2012)
  8. Chance Developments (2015)
  9. Pianos and Flowers (2019)
  10. Tiny Tales: Stories of Romance, Ambition, Kindness, and Happiness (2020)
  11. The Exquisite Art of Getting Even (2022)
  12. The Private Life of Spies and the Exquisite Art of Getting Even (2023)

Poetry

  1. A Gathering: A Personal Anthology of Scottish Poems (2018)
  2. In a Time of Distance and Other Poems (2020)
  3. I Think of You (2023)

Nonfiction and Academic Books

General Nonfiction Books

These are McCall Smith’s general nonfiction titles and book-length projects outside his fiction series.

  1. What W. H. Auden Can Do For You (2013)
  2. A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh (2014)
  3. Who Built Scotland (2017)

Academic Books

Before his fiction became widely known, McCall Smith had a substantial academic career in law, medical law, and ethics. These titles are a different kind of reading, but they belong in a complete Alexander McCall Smith bibliography.

  1. Law and Medical Ethics (1983) (with J. K. Mason)
  2. Butterworths Medico-Legal Encyclopaedia (1986) (with J. K. Mason)
  3. Family Rights: Family Law and Medical Advance (1990) (editor with Elaine Sutherland)
  4. Scots Criminal Law (1992) (with David Sheldon)
  5. The Criminal Law of Botswana (1992) (with Kwame Frimpong)
  6. Duty to Rescue: The Jurisprudence of Aid (1993) (editor with Michael A. Menlowe)
  7. Forensic Aspects of Sleep (1997) (editor with Colin Shapiro)
  8. Justice and the Prosecution of Old Crimes (2000) (with Daniel Shuman)
  9. Errors, Medicine and the Law (2001) (with Alan Merry)

Anthologies and Contributor Works

McCall Smith has also appeared in anthologies and contributor projects. I would not treat these as core reading, but they’re useful if you’re trying to track down everything he has written or contributed to.

  1. One City (2005) (with Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh)
  2. A New Omnibus of Crime (2005) (Out of print)
  3. The Sunday Night Book Club (2006) (Out of print)
  4. The Book That Changed My Life (2006) (Out of print)
  5. The Best British Mysteries IV (2007)
  6. Midsummer Nights (2009)
  7. Ox-Tales (2009) (Out of print)
  8. Crimespotting (2009) (Out of print)
  9. The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 7 (2010)
  10. No Rest for the Dead (2011)
  11. The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 8 (2011)
  12. What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur (2011)
  13. Imagined Lives (2012)
  14. How Rude! Modern Manners Defined (2012) (Out of print)
  15. Better Than Fiction (2012) (Out of print)
  16. Better Than Fiction 2 (2015) (Out of print)
  17. OxCrimes: 27 Killer Stories from the Cream of Crimewriters (2014)
  18. The Lonely Planet Travel Anthology (2016)
  19. The Captain’s Cabin (2022)

About Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith was born in what was then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and later moved to Scotland. Those two places show up again and again in his fiction, especially through Botswana in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and Edinburgh in 44 Scotland Street, Isabel Dalhousie, and several standalone books.

Before becoming best known as a novelist, he was a professor of medical law and wrote academic books on law, ethics, medicine, and criminal justice. That background is part of why his bibliography is broader than a normal mystery author’s list.

His fiction tends to be warm, witty, and character-focused. Even when a book has a mystery at the center, the real draw is often the way people think, talk, forgive, worry, and try to do the decent thing.

Looking for similar books in order?

If you want more mystery authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Mystery Books in Order index.

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