Author of “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” & Many More Books
By Edita McQuary
On a rainy Monday evening, November 9, Alexander McCall Smith came to Santa Cruz to talk about his latest book in the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series, “The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine.” Peace United Church was completely filled with about 500 fans of the popular novelist.
The New York Times Book Review has commented on his work, “Enchanting…an inspiration to us all…the sweet, chuckling voice of Precious Ramotswe falls gentle on the ear.” And from Entertainment Weekly: “The pleasure of these sweet books lies in the clarity and gravity with which the characters reason through everyday dilemmas.”
Casey Coonerty Protti, owner of the independent Bookshop Santa Cruz, introduced the famous Scottish author by welcoming him with “the first rainfall we have had in five years” so that he could feel at home. She went on to say that he has written more than 100 books and the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series has sold more than 20 million copies world-wide.
Mr. McCall Smith thanked her and said that the word “rain” in Botswana is “pula” and, besides meaning “rain,” it also means money and it means good fortune. So if someone in Botswana wishes you “pula,” he is wishing you good fortune.
The author turned out to be a delightful older gentleman with a charming sense of humor and a boyish giggle when something amused him. He is quite the raconteur and kept the audience roaring for the better part of three quarters of an hour.
He told of having earned his living as a medical law and bioethics professor before starting his literary career. His books now include the Isabel Dalhousie, the 44 Scotland Street, the Corduroy Mansions, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series as well as numerous short stories.
Although Scottish, he has lived and worked in Zimbabwe and Botswana, which gives him a unique perspective on Africa. He especially enjoyed the people and culture of Botswana which is why he based his “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” novels there. He is especially fond of Botswana because, as he says, “There is a respect for human rights and the people are law-abiding.”
As if the writing of more than a hundred books isn’t enough, twenty years ago he and his wife co-founded “The Really Terrible Amateur Orchestra” in Edinburgh. He plays the bassoon, or rather, as he says, “half bassoon,” since he only plays the low notes. When the score calls for high notes, he does not play. It appears the orchestra is made up of musically-challenged people.
He suspected we may have some of these musically-challenged people here in Santa Cruz and we may want to start our own very terrible amateur orchestra as well. If we have trouble finding a conductor, he suggested we look to our prisons and offer someone a commutation of their sentence if they take on conducting our “Santa Cruz Very Terrible Orchestra.”
In the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” novels, he describes a detective named Clovis Andersen from Muncie, Indiana, the author of a book called, “The Principles of Private Detection,” which Mma Ramotswe takes as her guide. Mr. McCall Smith told us years ago he had attended a crime/mystery writers’ conference in Muncie and was really taken with the Midwesterners he met. “It was the only crime/mystery writers’ conference I attended, where the majority of the audience was knitting.”
He related to us that he loves Italy and likes to travel there to get away from it all to write. A long and hysterically funny story followed which included the author driving a bulldozer through the streets of Pisa, a priest and his family inviting him to dinner at their vineyard and, after quite a bit of wine consumption, an inadvertent bulldozer altercation with the boundary line of the adjoining prestige vineyard. Well, whether the story was true or not, it had the audience enraptured and in stitches.
Following a short question and answer period, he closed by saying, “kindness is a sort of love in which the human heart makes its home.” The audience was invited to stay and have his newest book, “The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine” autographed and a photo taken with the author.
This was a wonderfully orchestrated event arranged by Bookshop Santa Cruz. Owner Casey Coonerty Protti admitted they’ve been asking him to come to Santa Cruz for years and they finally got him to accept their proposal.
She said, “Bookshop Santa Cruz loves bringing internationally-known authors to Santa Cruz and (to) find more ways to make connections between authors and their readers. Combine that with the storytelling prowess and humor of Alexander McCall Smith and we know we’d have a wonderful night.” She was so right!