Where’s your bookcase located and what does it look like?

I have an office at the top of the house, which contains a tall, dark brown bookcase near my desk (‘Shelfie’ photo below). It’s there for a reason. When I become crippled with self-doubt, which happens often, I can at least look at some copies of my previous books. I then remind myself that I have actually done this before, so it’s not unreasonable to assume I will be able to do it again and I carry on writing. There are also a couple of shelves filled with books written by friends. Putting their books together is a nice reminder that I’ve met a lot of really good people at author events over the years.

What kind of books will definitely not be found in your bookcase?

There are no ‘celebrity’ memoirs, bodice-ripping romances or copies of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and there’s a distinct absence of sword and sorcery, with very little Sci-Fi. I like stories to be vaguely realistic and preferably set in at least an approximation of the real world. I don’t read books about knights or wizards going off on mythical quests for magic swords or enchanted rings, all of which pretty much leaves me cold. Just about the only exception to the ‘realism’ rule is John Wyndham or, possibly, Philip K Dick. I still think ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ is one of the cleverest book titles. Ironically, many people only know of it as ‘Blade Runner’.

What author have you discovered and loved recently?

Megan Abbott. I really liked ‘Dare Me’, which was very original. I previously couldn’t have imagined reading a crime story about a bunch of high-school, cheer-leaders and their controlling teacher and being gripped by it but her writing was good enough to keep me interested till the very last page and that doesn’t always happen.

Where is your favourite place to read?

There’s a conservatory tacked on to the back of our house that gets a lot of light through its windows at the right time of day. It’s very peaceful there and private as we are not overlooked. It’s the ideal place to lose yourself in a book.

Can books change lives? If so, which one changed yours?

I think books change lives all the time, collectively and by degrees, as they make you constantly re-examine the world and your place in it. If I had to pick just one that changed mine, I’d go for ‘A Kind of Loving’ by Stan Barstow. I read it as a youngster and discovered it was possible to write about real people living authentic lives in northern towns. I realized then that not every book had to be set in London or the Cotswolds.

What’s the book you’d choose as your Desert Island read?

‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,’ by John Le Carre. It’s a masterful story about betrayal that has a classic whodunit mystery at its core, even though it is actually a Cold War spy thriller. I love Le Carre’s writing but not always his plot lines. This book however is populated with vivid characters and some of the most impressive dialogue I’ve ever read and the plot is gripping. I’ve got the hardback, the audio book, the TV series and the movie and the story never gets old.

What book did you give last as a present and to whom?

I’ve just ordered a copy of ‘Billy Liar on the Moon’ by Keith Waterhouse for my wife. Alison really loves ‘Billy Liar’ and I recently discovered that a sequel was written in 1975, which was a gap in my knowledge.

What are you reading now?

As usual, I have several books on the go at once, including Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’, which I am really enjoying. I’m also finally reading Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and feeling guilty that it has taken me so long to pick it up. I’m a big film fan so I quite often see a movie years before I’ve read the book it’s based on, which is the case with both of the above titles.

What are your top ten books?

They are not really in order, it was very hard to whittle it down to ten and the selection might even be different next time I attempt it but, if I was forced to flee the country tomorrow without a Kindle and only had room in my luggage for ten books, I’d take these:

• ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ by John Le Carre
• ‘Smiley’s People,’ by John Le Carre
• ‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler
• ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro
• ‘Wolf Hall’ by Hilary Mantel
• ‘The Go Between’ by L.P Hartley
• ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ by Kate Atkinson
• ‘The Chrysalids’ by John Wyndham
• ‘A Kind of Loving’ by Stan Barstow
• ‘The Damned United’ by David Peace

What’s your most treasured book on your bookcase?

Alison bought me a John Le Carre omnibus that was published back in 1962, which contains ‘Call for the Dead’ and ‘A Murder of Quality’. It was a sort of congratulations-on-being-published-and-good-luck gift. I guess it is the first book I’d rescue from a fire but, being a sad, Newcastle United fan, I’d also have to save Kevin Keegan’s autobiography, since I met the man himself at his launch and he signed it for us both. Finally I have a one-off, hard back copy of my debut novel ‘The Drop’ that was presented to me by my publisher. Since it’s the only one of its kind it means a great deal to me, so I’m sure I’d risk smoke and flames to bring that safely out of harm’s way. So that’s three then. Bugger. Please don’t ask me to narrow them down any further. It took me hours to come up with my Top Ten and I’m supposed to be writing!