I came from this very traditional background and I benefited hugely from feminism. I felt privileged going to university and doing a PhD. Most people of my background don't get to do that.

Crime is a very hard genre to feminise. If you have a female protagonist she is going to be looking after her mum when she gets older; she is going to be worried about her brother and sister; she will be making a living while bringing up kids.

To have a very strong opinion all the time is corrosive to a person's intellect. It becomes your default position.

Novelisation doesn't imply the truth. Readers are sophisticated enough to know that.

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

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.