You have previously been a policeman on what some people call the most violent beat in Scotland, how does your previous experience inform your writing and do you think it gives you an edge over other crime writers?
There is no doubt that my police experience aids me in the depiction of violence and specifically in accurate descriptions of scenes of violent death, but I really don’t think this gives me any kind of ‘edge’ over other writers of crime. Writing powerful fiction is, after all, an act of imagination and word craft.
That said, like all writers, I cannot separate my life experiences from what I write.
You have recently published The Long Glasgow Kiss featuring your new(ish) Lennox character but are also still publishing Jan Fabel novels, how to you keep the two apart in your head and what made you want to start over with a new protagonist and series?
Lennox and Fabel are so separated by geography, chronology and character that it is very easy to keep them apart in my head. The funny thing is that the characters I create really do live in my head (something I perhaps should not admit to if there is a psychiatrist in the room). Lennox and Fabel are such different people for me.
Lennox came about because I wanted to write something truly, unapologetically noir. Glasgow in the 1950s just leapt out as the ideal location. Lennox himself took form as someone who had a wicked sense of black humour. I cannot tell you how fun he is to write.
Hamburg, where the Fabel books are set, and now Glasgow in the Lennox series play an important part in the books, how significant is setting for you when writing and what research do you do to make it as believable as possible?
The research is intense and continuous. I have been described as a ‘method’ writer and there is some truth in that. Whether it’s contemporary Hamburg or 1950s Glasgow, I totally immerse myself in the location and period. I listen to the music Lennox would listen to when I’m writing a Lennox novel, likewise with Fabel. It’s led to a very eclectic music library! As a result of writing the Lennox novels, I have become a Mel Tormé fan, much to the groans of my teenage children.
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