Short Story Calendar Archives - Alexander McCall Smith

September 2020

A Story for September – No Double Bed

No Double Bed is an exclusive extract from the forthcoming book, ‘How to Raise an Elephant’, the twenty-first volume in The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. How to Raise an Elephant will be published in November 2020.

August 2020

A Story for August – Pope Ron

The first adventure of Pope Ron Pope Ron, the first Australian pope, came from a small town south of Perth. His father, Bill Stokes, was an agricultural machinery salesman; his mother, Sandra, gave music lessons at the local high school. Ron, who had been an enthusiastic altar-boy, had nursed an ambition to be a priest, […]

May 2019

A Story for May: The Second Worst Restaurant in France

A little taster of the soon-to-be-published The Second Worst Restaurant in France (publishing Julyy 2019), sequel to My Italian Bulldozer.

April 2019

A Story for April: Being Glad About Being Home

Not a story, but a delightful contemplation of appreciating home. A version of this piece originally appeared in The Sunday Post.

February 2019

A Story for February: First Class

First Class A great airport, as everyone knows, is a city in itself, a microcosm of society. Within its confines almost every walk of life, every trade or profession, is represented. There are pilots, doctors, priests, engineers, electricians, negotiators, cooks and beauticians. Some of these jobs are glamorous – pilots inevitably attract admiring glances as […]