Which detail in The Beaumont Saga is there because it amused you?

There’s a line in The Lady of Beaumont where Frances Beaumont laments the literary death of Sherlock Holmes, and writes: ‘I have a mind to write to Dr. Conan Doyle this very day and demand that he retracts this most terrible episode in the career of Mr. Holmes!’ It really made me smile, because it just sums up her delightful, unswerving belief that she can make impossible things happen. Watch out for a follow-up to that line in Book II! The scene is already written!

I can tell that you write Frances Beaumont with great affection, but also with a wry smile. Have you ever had one of those ‘Oh, Frances’ moments yourself?

I’m afraid so. Just the other day when standing at the front door. I convinced myself I’d lost my house keys. Searched my ‘key pocket’—not there. Tried on the ground—no joy. Eventually found them in the one place I hadn’t looked—my other hand.

What’s the most elegant solution you’ve ever found to a narrative problem?

I solved The Prisoner! It’s a solution that I have never seen propounded, and it involves totally inverting everything you thought you knew. It’s the only solution I know where everything you see, in every episode, suddenly makes perfect sense—and once you understand it, it becomes obvious. I fully intend to publish my thesis (if I can ever find the time!).

What principle guides your work, whether in court or on the page?

That right is done. In the real world, I try to do that in a court of law. In the fictional world, I set the stage and guide my characters to discover the paths to find it.

What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?

‘The Man’ by Bram Stoker. He has an extraordinary way of making his characters feel alive. I also learned one very important technique from him: keep your readers guessing until the very last line of the very last page.

Which film would you take to a desert island, and why?

It’s a Wonderful Life—with James Stewart and Donna Reed, and directed by Frank Capra. It has to be the greatest film ever made: they each understand how to craft a magnificent story. The emotional architecture, the stakes, the dramatic crescendos—it’s peerless, and so unlike today’s film industry, where much of the writing, directing and acting is fuelled by self-indulgence, with a complete lack of understanding that we need to care about the principals. We don’t need an hour of background build-up; we don’t need actors disappearing into mumbling introspection, or wailing like banshees; and we don’t need directors obsessed with ‘predictable surprise endings’. Modern filmmakers should watch It’s a Wonderful Life—it will teach them everything they need to know.

If you were condemned to walk the green mile and had to choose you last meal, what would it be?

Something that would make me mildly, but dramatically, unwell. I’d then be taken to a hospital, and it’s easier to escape from a hospital than Death Row.

Which three people, living or dead, real or fictional, would you choose to meet?

Firstly, my own late mother. She made me everything I stand for. Just five more minutes would be enough.

Secondly, myself as a younger man—and I’d give him a hard time, so he learned how to get where he needs to be without missing life’s opportunities.

Lastly, the next Mrs. Sterling. It would save a lot of time.

Finally, describe yourself in three words:

Impossible to categorise.