ROBERT WILSON

What led you to a life of Crime?

I'd wanted to be a writer since aged 14 I'd managed to silence a classroom of my peers with a love poem and I'd always travelled a lot, so I assumed that I would become a travel writer, whereupon travel writing as a genre died. A screenwriter friend read some of my stories set in Africa and asked if I'd ever thought of writing a crime novel. He then pointed me in the direction of Raymond Chandler and Elmore Leonard and that was it.

What could get you arrested?

Cracking a joke at a US Immigration official.

We are always arguing over which of your novels is the best. Megan likes The Silent and the Damned and Joe loved your most recent book The Hidden Assassins. Is there one that you particularly like best?

I was always very attached to the African novels because I loved writing them. I especially like The Big Killing because to me that typifies all that is Africa. I am eternally grateful to A Small Death in Lisbon because it meant that I could become a full time writer. The Company of Strangers gave me the confidence to develop strong female characters. The Seville books are structural behemoths finding different ways to tell more complex stories. I think The Hidden Assassins lays down a big thriller canvas but points up strong human stories within. It combines the techniques of The Blind Man of Seville and The Silent and the Damned. There's an answer for you that deftly avoids the question.

We've noticed that a few people have compared your writing to that of Graham Greene. We think that's a great honour but are curious to know if you are happy with this analogy or if you would prefer to be compared to another crime writer?

I think the only reason I was compared me to Graham Greene was that I was writing about Africa. Apart from that vague connection I can see no comparison. The African books owe more to Chandler than Greene. I'm not aware of any influences in the bigger thrillers but, no doubt, there are some.

Your novels have received a lot of critical acclaim. Do you read the reviews and how much notice do you take of them?

You'd have to be a very strong person not to read your reviews. Most crime reviews come in the round up form which means they have very little space on which to comment on a 450 page book. Invariably they tell the plot, say something good, something bad and give an overall impression. It's fascinating to see what has struck the reviewer and sometimes baffling, but it's not exactly something a writer could base his life's work on. These days I don't think readers buy books because of reviews, but because they see them prominently displayed in the bookshop.

A Small Death in Lisbon featured an historical split narrative - was it difficult making the jump between eras?

It was the best thing about writing that book. I did all the necessary research beforehand and I had a rough plan to the halfway point. Jumping between the periods meant that I had to concentrate my powers every time I made the switch and I found that an enlivening experience. I could never relax and I hope that intensity is transferred to the reader.

How do you decide on the settings for your novels?

I go there and if they move me I write about them. Africa was a big culture shock for me. It was the first time I'd been anywhere and realised that I was going to have to change if I was going to survive there. Africa taught me to look, listen and go with the flow. The fastest way to drunken misery is trying to make Africa dance to to your tune. I loved Lisbon. When I first went there it not only felt like the halfway house between two eras but also between two cultures - Europe and Africa. Seville has such a powerful image of beauty and joy that it became the obvious place to set a crime novel, which relies so much on that old Shakespearian theme of appearance and reality.

You won the CWA Gold Daggerfor A Small Death in Lisbon (many congrats!). We are curious to know if this affects your writing, in particular does it lead you to feel added pressure when working on your next book.

By the time I won the Dagger I was already three quarters of the way through The Company of Strangers so it certainly didn't affect that book. Maybe I should have established Zé Coelho as 'my character' by writing another Lisbon book, but I didn't have a story for him. I had since become interested in Spain and Seville and I wanted to write a big psychological novel. If you're writing for prizes you've got to be crazy. They're a complete lottery. I never felt the weight of expectation because I don't think it was ever there.

Do you think a crime writer will ever win the Booker?

With the way literary fiction is going it's becoming distinctly possible.The lines are definitely blurring. Ian McEwan 's work has plenty of crime thriller elements. Some might classify Vernon God Little as a crime novel. We Need to talk about Kevin reads like a very original crime novel. But none of these books are marketed as such. So maybe the real question is: could a police procedural ever win the Booker? Is there a writer out there who could convincingly make coppers handle universal themes and original ideas whilst maintaining narrative pace and the necessary attention to detail. Not so easy.

Parents always say they can never choose between their children. So.......who do you like best Javier Falcon or Bruce Medway (and while you're at it - Joe or Megan - hehe, be nice now!)

Were I to meet them in a bar I would always gravitate towards Javier. If I went with Bruce I'd probably wake up three days later on a wet floor in jail in Ouagadougou and I'm too old for that. (Joe or Megan? Megan or Joe? I can't decide so maybe I am just too old.)

Following on from that, are you more like Falcon or Medway?

I'm like both but neither.

Do you have any rituals/habits or things you need by your side whilst writing?

I have a picture of a matador holding up his red muleta to a bull on which is written 'El País' the name of the leftish Spanish newspaper. It reminds me to always provoke.

We are interested to know about your next novel. How's it going and do you need any characters called Joe and Megan?

The next book is the fourth and final novel in the Falcón quartet and it resolves some of the questions left at the end of The Hidden Assassins. The only snag with the names Joe and Megan is that they don't sound very Spanish but then there are always tourists hanging around in bars, it's just getting them to interact with one of the characters.