Right From The Very Beginning, I Knew

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.

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 Wrote My First Short Story For A Competition And Won Second Prize. Another Competition Came Up And I Won First Prize. The First Story Was Published In A Newspaper. The Second Went Out On Radio.

I Don't Have Many Friends. It's Not Because I'm A Misanthrope. It's Because I'm Reserved. I'm Self-contained. I Get All My Adventures In My Head When I'm Writing My Books.

I Am, Of Course, A Frustrated Rock Star - I'd Much Rather Be A Rock Star Than A Writer. Or Own A Record Shop. Still, It's Not A Bad Life, Is It? You Just Sit At A Computer And Make Stuff Up.