Peter Robinson is the recipient of numerous awards for his Inspector Banks novels, including the prestigious Grand Prix de Littrature Policire for the French translation of In a Dry Season, the Edgar Award for the short story "Missing in Action," Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Award, and several Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Novel. In 2002, he was awarded the Dagger in the Library by the British Crime Writers' Association. His new book is Bad Boy .

1. How would you summarize your book in one sentence?

I wouldn't. That's why it's so long.

2. How long did it take you to write this book?

About a year, though probably a bit less, as some of the time I was doing promotion, and I find it hard to write on the road.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?

On the upper floor of the cottage in Muskoka overlooking the lake.

4. How do you choose your characters' names?

The Guinness Book of Names. Seriously. And sometimes I go to the Internet for the more exotic names.

5. How many drafts do you go through?

Just one, but it's been thoroughly revised and revised. The computer makes it easier to do that as you go, and the separation between drafts doesn't seem at all clear any more.

6. If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it?

Well, it's on TV, and Stephen Tompkinson plays DCI Banks.

7. What's your favourite city in the world?

Paris

8. If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask?

I'd like to ask Emily Bronte where she got her ideas!

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?

Only instrumental music--chamber, symphonies or sometimes jazz. Lyrics distract me too much.

10. Who is the first person who gets to you read your manuscript?

My wife Sheila.

11. Do you have a guilty pleasure read?

I never feel guilty about reading.

12. What's on your nightstand right now?

The Passage, by Justin Cronin. And it may be there for a long time, as it's a long book and I'm a slow reader. I also have a pile of research reading to do.

13. What is the first book you remember reading?

Black Beauty.

14. Did you always want to be a writer?

Ever since I was a child and could form letters.

15. What do you drink or eat while you write?

Tea. Lots of tea.

16. Typewriter, laptop, or pen & paper?

Desktop and sometimes laptop.

17. What did you do immediately after hearing that you were being published for the very first time?

Went and bought a bottle of (cheap) Champagne.

18. How do you decide which narrative point of view to write from?

I decided on third person so I could distance myself and know it wasn't autobiographical. Now I'm confident enough to be attempting a novel in the first person.

19. What is the best gift someone could give a writer?

Time to write.