Alexander McCall Smith has written more than fifty books, but he is best known as the author of the internationally acclaimed series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, of which Blue Shoes and Happiness is the seventh volume. He has also written the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, the 44 Scotland Street series, as well as children's books. He was born in Zimbabwe, then called Southern Rhodesia, and educated there and in Scotland. He returned to Africa to help set up the new law school at the University of Botswana. He was also a Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh University. He lives in Scotland.