A London production company is planning to bring 44 Scotland Street - first published as a serial in The Scotsman - to the small screen, while BBC Scotland is working on a serialisation of The Sunday Philosophy Club, the 57-year-old writer's 1994 novel in which the amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie investigates the suspicious death of a man at the Usher Hall.

Jan Rutherford, the author's agent, said: "Sandy is very excited about the two new projects." The Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella has already bought the rights to McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Richard Curtis, who directed Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral, is to write the script.