Q. Why did you decide to become a novelist? Janet Hawkins, Bath

A. I was once asked the same questions by a radio interviewer and my reply was, ‘Desperation. I have tried everything else.’ It’s true, I’d been a decorator, salesman, truck driver, ice-cream vendor, cleaner packer and an entrepreneur who launched a dozen projects and never made much of any of them.  So perhaps it’s not surprising that I tried my hand at being a novelist. But really my first novel came by accident. I sat down to write a radio play, and ended up six weeks later with a 400-page book.

David Donachie