‘Modesty,’ said Isabel Dalhousie, as she spread thick-cut Dundee marmalade over her slice of toast, ‘is not quite the same thing as humility.’ This was not the sort of remark one would hear at every kitchen table, but Isabel was, after all, a philosopher, and if there are any breakfast tables at which such statements […]

The Private Life of Spies is a collection of stories from the world of espionage by Alexander McCall Smith, available in paperback this month. This extract is taken from the story ‘Donald and Yevgeni’. The man with the scholarly air opened the photograph album. He handled it gently, in the way of a porter in […]

Below is a message from Alexander about a poem he wrote last month: ‘This is a poem I started yesterday and finished this morning. It is about friendship and loss. It refers to the work of Chinese poets of the sort I have always liked – Tang poets such as Po.Chu-i and Li Po (translated […]

Alexander wrote this poem ‘Only One Home’ for the World Wildlife Fund Scotland to mark Earth Hour, which will take place this year on 23rd March. ‘Only One Home’ It’s always useful, we’re told, To ensure a spare is ready to hand: About the house an extra pair Of spectacles may come in useful, A […]

This poem, perfect for the month of love, is the seventh sonnet in Alexander’s collection In A Time of Distance. In his introduction, Alexander writes ‘The conclusion in the final two lines of the following poem is that we will never get another to love us by revealing to the one we love that we are […]

In the following extract from The Perfect Passion Company, Katie has agreed to take over her cousin’s matchmaking bureau in Edinburgh while Ness goes travelling. Katie made her way along the back lane with its neat progression of mews houses. It was not a street that she was familiar with, being tucked away at the […]

Exclusive short story: A Precious Christmas Mma Ramotswe had always known that her assistant at the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Mma Makutsi, was a woman of exceptional character. There were so many reasons for coming to this conclusion – not only was there her remarkable performance in the final examinations of the Botswana Secretarial […]

Dear Readers, I think we might all be forgiven for thinking that the world at the moment is a somewhat difficult place. And there are many, I suspect, who would feel that is putting it mildly! This year has not been the most peaceful year for many, but – and this is an important but […]

When I wrote the opening chapter of the first 44 Scotland Street novel, I had no idea how the book was going to develop or how long it would turn out to be. I had responded to an invitation from the then editor of The Scotsman, Iain Martin, to write a serial novel for daily […]