Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE , FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer, raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe ) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh . He became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. "McCall" forms part of his surname .