Date Published: 10th December 2019

December 2019

Dear Reader,

The end of the year is such an important – and enjoyable – time. Here in Scotland, where I live, it is a season of very short days (we are further north than one might imagine). It is also a good season for reading, and I always hope that any presents that I might be fortunate enough to receive on Christmas Day will include a book or two.

Then, of course, we move on to New Year. That is a time for review of the year gone past, and for resolutions that few of us are able to keep. (Of course, you may be better at that than I am.) But it is a good time to look back over, and that is what I should like to do – briefly.

2019 saw the publication of a number of my books in hardback and paperback format. There was a new Mma Ramotswe novel, To the Land of Long Lost Friends, the twentieth novel in the series. Once again we are back in Botswana with Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi. Friendship is at the heart of so much that Mma Ramotswe does, and it is a theme that I much enjoy exploring in the books. Then there was The Peppermint Tea Chronicles, a new volume in the Scotland Street series. Life is looking up a bit for young Bertie, I’m happy to say. The Second Worst Restaurant in France is volume two in the Paul Stewart series. We left him in Italy in the previous book; now he goes to France and becomes involved in the rescue of a restaurant that has some room for improvement. The Department of Sensitive Crimes is the first volume in a new series set in Sweden and featuring Ulf Varg, a Malmo detective. This is Scandinavian blanc as opposed to Scandinavian noir, so don’t expect anything unpleasant. In fact, Ulf’s cases are distinctly odd and very unthreatening. Paperbacks appearing this year included The Colours of all the Cattle (Mma Ramotswe), The Good Pilot, Peter Wodehouse and The Quiet Side of Passion (Isabel Dalhousie).

 

I look back, too, on a very enjoyable tour that I undertook of the US and Canada in November. I visited a large number of cities, starting in New York and ending in Dallas. After this tour I went off to India, to the Mumbai Literary Festival, one of the most interesting literary festivals in the world.

 

In December and January I shall be working on the next Isabel Dalhousie novel, which will be published next year.

 

I do hope that you have a very good break over the forthcoming festive season, and I send you my very warmest wishes,

 

Alexander McCall Smith, December 2019