1. RAGDOLL is a masterfully written crime thriller – have you always been a fan of the genre?

I’m more influenced by TV than anything else. As much as I love some of the UK crime shows, there’s this common theme of them looking a bit drained of colour, being true-to-life gritty and unrelentingly sombre. But then the US shows often descend into cringe-worthy cheesiness and gimmicks (There’s an episode of Castle where they wake up as 1920’s detectives – I never watched it again).

So, when I started writing screenplays (of which, Ragdoll was one), I was aiming for that perfect balance between the two – grounded escapism; cherry-picking all of my favourite aspects and trying to make them work together.

Book-wise, I have quite commercial taste – I love the Robert Galbraiths, the Stieg Larssons…I’m definitely a fan of the genre.

2. The main characters are all such distinct personalities – were they based on anyone you know? Do you have a favourite character?

I don’t have a favourite character.

Wolf was a combination of all my favourite heroes/anti-heroes – he’s one part Captain Mal Reynolds from Firefly, one part Sawyer from Lost. There’s definitely some Rick Grimes from Walking Dead in there, set off against a dash of Lethal Weapon’s Martin Riggs among others.

None of the other characters were based on anybody specific apart from Baxter, who is loosely based on my amazing sister and biggest fan, Melody.

3. Your plot is very tightly woven, with multiple twists and turns. Did you chart it out in fine detail at the beginning of the process?

I always start writing with just an intriguing beginning and a shocking ending and let the story develop from there. I don’t know how other people write, but I find that so much changes as I start putting words on the page that it would be a complete waste of time planning anything in advance.

Having said that, RAGDOLL is so complicated and intertwined, I have no idea how I managed to bring it all together. I think I have six years of rejection letters to thank for that – I had a lot of time to think about it.

4. A real strength of RAGDOLL is the humour. Was that important to you when writing the book?

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I can’t take anything very seriously. It’s probably very annoying. Basically, I get bored if something doesn’t make me smile every few pages. There’s an uninteresting but relevant story (from long before my wonderful editor came on board) where it was suggested to me that I remove all humour from the book if I wanted to stand any chance of getting it published. I decided then that I’d rather persevere and fail as a writer than put something out there that didn’t make me laugh a little.

5. Your book has been sold in countries all over the world. How do you feel about the success?

It’s been a very weird year.

I feel like a bit of a fraud, but I’m just concentrating on making RAGDOLL 2: RAGDOLLIER the very best that it can be… I do hope to get some free trips to nice places this year though.

6. Baxter and Fawkes are set to return in 2018. What can we expect?

Book 2 is certainly the clichéd bigger, darker, more shocking sequel that you’d expect it to be, but at the same time it’s funnier, more poignant and more personal as well. Some familiar faces return. Some new faces are introduced and yes, I’m aware that this is the vaguest answer ever given…I can only apologise.

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