Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over fifty books, including the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels and several collections of short stories, including The Girl Who Married a Lion and Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations. In 2003 he was the winner of the UK's principal award for humorous writing, the Saga Award, and in the same year he won the Glenfiddich Award for Writing. Alexander McCall Smith lives in Scotland.