Denise Mina

There's a real emphasis on being witty in Scotland, even in crime novels.

My upbringing was middle-class but my parents' families were both working-class so I had this odd combination of working-class background but in a privileged position.

I think the negative traits are what makes us love other human beings, the foibles and the flaws.

The judge said I was a menace to society because I had put crime on a scientific basis.

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of other approaches.

I'm a big action junkie. I grew up on the '80s action movies - the bad ones and the good ones.