There's a real emphasis on being witty in Scotland, even in crime novels.

There's a real emphasis on being witty in Scotland, even in crime novels.

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

People are interested in crime fiction when they're quite distanced from crime. People in Darfur are not reading murder mysteries.

I just got an honorary degree from Glasgow University, and I had to wear around very painful shoes so that I didn't laugh all the way through the ceremony because I felt like an outlaw.

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

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?