I Think Writers Have To Be Proactive:

It Was The Laughter Of Birthdays, Of Money Found In An Old Pocket.

Right From The Very Beginning, I Knew I Wanted To Write Palpably Scottish Fiction.

The Most Difficult Part Of Any Crime Novel Is The Plotting. It All Begins Simply Enough, But Soon You're Dealing With A Multitude Of Linked Characters, Strands, Themes And Red Herrings - And You Need To Try To Control These Unruly Elements And Weave Them Into A Pattern.

I'm Interested In Scotland Now And Then, How It's Changed. I Want To Get The Reader To Think About That By Thinking About Something From The Past. How Has Society Changed, How Has Policing Changed, Have We Changed Philosophically, Psychologically, Culturally, Spiritually?

I Started Writing Novels While An Undergraduate Student, In An Attempt To Make Sense Of The City Of Edinburgh, Using A Detective As My Protagonist. Each Book Hopefully Adds Another Piece To The Jigsaw That Is Modern Scotland, Asking Questions About The Nation's Politics, Economy, Psyche And History ... And Perhaps Pointing Towards Its Possible Future.