I still do a weekly opinion column for the Miami Herald, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Rotten fish.

All novels are about crime. You'd be hard pressed to find any novel that does not have an element of crime. I don't see myself as a crime novelist, but there are crimes in my books. That's the nature of storytelling, if you want to reflect the real world.

Like Richard Price and the late, great Elmore Leonard, Matt Burgess is one of those cool, quick and funny writers who can turn a seemingly routine crime caper into something special.

My humour has always come from anger, but I have to make sure I don't just get angry and jump on a soapbox.

The greatest sin for a writer is to be boring.

and in the meantime don't jump to conclusions.

I've always enjoyed making people laugh. But in order for me to be funny, I have to get ticked off about something.