I grew up in London under Thatcher and that really was disgusting. A feeding frenzy.

In the 'Garnethill' trilogy, people always forget that Maureen O'Donnell's dad was a journalist and she did art history at uni and her brother did law, but no-one ever thinks they're middle-class - they're just working class because they speak with accents.

I think the negative traits are what makes us love other human beings, the foibles and the flaws.

I'm terrified to get married. I'm not getting married till my gay friends can.

Most of the people who write to me are really clever, really engaged. They just want to say that they have read my book and liked it.

I'd read so much right-wing crime fiction where they find the evidence and shoot the bad guy - I thought there must be another approach.

Because I write a book a year, I always want to do one other project every year that's stimulating in a different way. It means you can be working but not using up your prose juice, you know?