“You do not have to ladle on the impasto to make a point about human frailty or ambitions,” Scottish best-selling novelist Alexander McCall Smith recently told The Telegraph. In his series The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and The Sunday Philosophy Club, and through his female sleuths, McCall Smith spreads gentle wisdom and good cheer. He spends an evening with fans, in conversation with broadcaster Jim Mora.

A British Council Series Event.