Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith CBE FRSE (born 24 August 1948) is a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction.

[7][8][9] McCall Smith was educated at the Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo before moving to Scotland at age 17 to study law at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his LLB[10] and PhD degrees.

[4][11] He soon taught at Queen's University Belfast, and while teaching there he entered a literary competition: one a children's book and the other a novel for adults.

McCall Smith was appointed a CBE in the 2007 New Year Honours List issued at the end of December 2006 for services to literature.

[13] In the 2024 New Year Honours he was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to Literature, to Academia and to Charity.

In June 2015 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at a graduation ceremony at the University of St Andrews.

He and his wife Elizabeth, a physician, bought and renovated a large Victorian mansion in the Merchiston/Morningside area of the city.

[21] In 2014 McCall Smith purchased the Cairns of Coll, a chain of uninhabited islets in the Hebrides.

1 Ladies Detective Agency series, featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe and set in Gaborone, Botswana.

[1] In 2008 he wrote a serialised online novel Corduroy Mansions, with the audio edition read by Andrew Sachs made available at the same pace as the daily publication.