My First Novel Was Turned Down By

[about A Tiresome Colleague]: He Could Bore For Scotland.

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

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.

Rebus Was Eating Breakfast In The Canteen And Wishing There Was More Caffeine In The Coffee, Or More Coffee In The Coffee Come To That.

No Matter How Many Awards You've Won Or How Many Sales You've Got, Come The Next Book It's Still A Blank Sheet Of Paper And You're Still Panicking Like Hell That You've Got Nothing New To Say.