Author due to lecture at Manoa

His detective tales are set in Botswana

Here's a mystery: What does Hawaii have in common with Scotland and Zimbabwe?

Mystery fans know that the answer is Alexander McCall Smith, author of the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series of best-selling books.

Alexander McCall Smith Free "Distinguished Lectures" will be held at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Campus Center Ballroom. "On Being a Serial Novelist": 7 p.m. Thursday "An Evening with Alexander McCall Smith: A Reading and Conversation": 7 p.m. Friday Call: 956-9405

The scholarly Zimbabwe native, who's also a professor of medical law in Edinburgh, is headed to the University of Hawaii-Manoa this week for a couple of lectures.

"No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is currently being groomed as a possible film series. It's set in Botswana, and Smith's keen observation of human behavior has brought praise upon the series.

Here's how Smith introduced his primary character, Precious Ramotswe: "She was a good detective, and a good woman. A good woman in a good country, one might say. She loved her country, Botswana, which is a place of peace, and she loved Africa, for all its trials. 'I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot,' said Mma Ramotswe. 'I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place. They are my people, my brothers and sisters. It is my duty to help them to solve the mysteries in their lives. That is what I am called to do.'"

The first book in the series was "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" in 1998, followed by "Tears of the Giraffe" (2000), "Morality for Beautiful Girls" (2001), "The Kalahari Typing School for Men" (2002), "The Full Cupboard of Life" (2003), "In the Company of Cheerful Ladies" (2004) and this year's "Blue Shoes and Happiness."

McCall is a prolific novelist who has created several other fiction series, including "The Sunday Philosophy Club," which kicked off with the book of that title in 2004.