Detective Varg Books in Order

This reading order guide provides the complete list of Detective Varg books in order, from the very first to the latest, so you won’t miss anything!

About the Detective Varg Series

The Detective Varg books are written by Alexander McCall Smith – a writer many folk have been following for years – and have a style that puts people at the forefront. With a writing career that’s been going on for a long time now, his stories do tend to be a bit more laid back & less about action and bang-bang. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a professor of medical law – which no doubt helped him develop a style of thinking that’s slow, deliberate & pretty careful – all of which comes across on the page. Smith started writing when he was pretty young, beginning with children’s stories before moving on to adult fiction, and he’s now written an awful lot – over 100 books to be exact. Loads of people know him because of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, but the Detective Varg series has a much more mellow feel. The stories are set in Malmö, Sweden and follow a bloke called Ulf Varg, a copper working in the Department of Sensitive Crimes, where the cases are a bit weird and sometimes even a wee bit daft. Not violent or spooky in the slightest. Instead, these are just calm, easy-going mysteries that take a look at all sorts of strange happenings and the way people behave around them. Ulf Varg is a thoughtful, polite bloke with a real interest in art & ideas, and shares a home with a clever wee dog called Martin. What with dealing with his divorce and having a bit of a soft spot for his colleague Anna, he spends a lot of time mulling over what it means to be a good friend, loyal & in love. Alongside the mysteries, the books are full of all the usual workplace bants, personal worries and gentle laughs – it all adds up to make them a doddle to read. Even when things get serious, the story always comes back to the characters, which is why so many readers end up feeling like they know Ulf Varg and really enjoy hanging out in his quiet, reflective world.