Author photo Graham Clark

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe in 1948 and was educated there and in Scotland. He enjoyed a distinguished career as Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh, and it was in this role that he first returned to Africa to work in Botswana and Swaziland. In 2005, he left the University of Edinburgh to concentrate on his writing. He is now the author of over sixty books, ranging from specialist legal and medical titles to several hugely popular adult fiction series, and from children's novels to collections of stories and retellings of African folktales.

In 1999 THE NO 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY was published. Its heroine, Precious Ramotswe, the founder of Botswana’s first and only detective agency run by women, soon captivated readers. The book received two Booker Judges’ Special Recommendations and was voted one of the 'International Books of the Year and the Millennium' by the Times Literary Supplement. The sequel, TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE, was voted one of the Guardian top ten fiction paperbacks of the year 2000. But it was in America that the series (now nine titles) really began to take off. With the US mass-market publication in 2002 of the first three titles, success was instant. As a BookSense pick (independent booksellers), and Amy Tan’s book club choice on NBC’s Today show, THE NO 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY entered the New York Times Bestseller list. English language sales of the series currently exceed 15 million and translation rights have so far been sold in 37 languages. The books were the subject of a BBC documentary in Summer 2003, filmed in Botswana and featuring the author. Anthony Minghella has adapted the first title in the series for television with Richard Curtis and it will appear at Easter this year.

2003 and 2004 saw the publication a new series featuring the unnaturally tall and exceedingly memorable Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, a blend of the cultivated pomposity of Frasier Crane and the haplessness of Inspector Clouseau. His adventures with his equally ridiculous colleagues, Professors Florianus Prinzel and Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer, all taking place in the rarefied world of the Institute of Romance Philology at Regensburg, were described in three instalments: PORTUGUESE IRREGULAR VERBS, THE FINER POINTS OF SAUSAGE DOGS and AT THE VILLA OF REDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES. All three books have now been collected into one volume, THE TWO AND A HALF PILLARS OF WISDOM, published by Abacus in the UK, and a fourth novel is in progress.

Also published in 2004 was THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB, the first in a series of novels set in Edinburgh with a new sleuthing heroine, the philosopher Isabel Dalhousie - 'the No. 2 Lady Detective... Anyone who loves Precious cannot fail to be charmed', enthused the Daily Mail. The second and third titles in the series, FRIENDS, LOVERS, CHOCOLATE and THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TO RAIN, were published in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and the fourth, THE CAREFUL USE OF COMPLIMENTS, was released in October 2007.

Alexander McCall Smith has also published four novels in the SCOTLAND STREET series (44 SCOTLAND STREET, ESPRESSO TALES, LOVE OVER SCOTLAND and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BERTIE), all of which appeared initially in daily serial form for The Scotsman newspaper. A fifth title will appear in Autumn 2008.

His short story collections include HEAVENLY DATE AND OTHER FLIRTATIONS and THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A LION, a collection of African folktales. The folktales have also been published in two illustrated children's editions, and he is the author of many other children's titles, including the HARRIET BEAN series, the AKIMBO series (the latest of which is AKIMBO AND THE SNAKES) and the MAX AND MADDY series.

Winner of three Author of the Year awards in 2004 (British Book Awards, Booksellers' Association and Waterstones), Alexander McCall Smith has served as Vice-Chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the United Kingdom; a member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO; Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the British Medical Journal and Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Roslin Institute.

He plays in an amateur orchestra, The Really Terrible Orchestra, which he co-founded with his wife.

In 2007 Alexander was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.

It has never occurred to Precious Ramotswe that there might be disadvantages to being the best-known lady detective in Botswana. But when she receives a threatening anonymous letter, she is compelled to reconsider her unconquerable belief in a kind world and good neighbours.

While she ponders the identity of the letter-writer Mma Ramotswe has a further set of problems to solve, both professional and personal. There is an adopted child's poignant search for her true family, and Mr J. L. B. Matekoni's pursuit of an expensive miracle for their own foster daughter Motholeli.

With these latest developments on Tlokweng Road, Alexander McCall Smith reveals with all his brilliant storytelling skill that there are very few troubles that cannot be solved with kindness, and very few dry seasons that do not end with welcome rain.