Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
My latest book is The Photographer. It’s the seventh in my Winter & Narey series but can be read as a standalone. Narey is on the trail of a violent rapist who has evaded conviction. While searching his home, she finds hidden photographs of hundreds of women, all taken on the streets of Glasgow without their knowledge. She herself becomes the victim of misogynistic online trolls as a men’s movement rallies behind the rapist.
You should buy it because the cat needs fed. Clooney is a lovely cat really, very affectionate and you wouldn’t want him to go hungry would you? Would you?
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
The Man Who Lived Forever (but mysteriously didn’t get old either). Or more likely He Got Lucky But At Least He Knows It.
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
There’s been a few but perhaps the strangest came after the release of my book Murderabilia, which centres round the real business of buying and selling items connected to serial killers and murderers. A lady approached me after I spoke about it at a book festival and said she had something for me and gave me a supermarket carrier bag stuffed with things. She told me it contained everything her brother had on his person when he committed a triple murder and was then arrested for it. She asked me to take it from her to ease the burden she felt in keeping it. So I now have his car keys, house keys, wallet, library card…
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
I couldn’t. I’d be a nightmare to co-write with and it wouldn’t be fair on the other person to even try. I’d just want to do it my way and would be forcing every line, every plot point, every word. I don’t think it’s a two-person job, not for me anyway.
I’m often asked if I’d write a book with my wife, the award-winning and all-round brilliant Alexandra Sokoloff. But the answer to that is a big fat no. Far too risky!
If you forced me to choose someone, I’d say James Ellroy as I love his work. But at least one of us would be dead within two days.
Tell me something nobody else knows about you (yet!).
I’ve been a judge at the world black pudding championships. And the world porridge championships…
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh. Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee. The Bone Keeper by Luca Veste. I’ve chosen them because they are all excellent, pacy, riveting crime novels. Also because they are the only three books I’ve read recently. Don’t judge me!
Who is Craig Robertson? A former journalist, Craig Robertson had a 20-year career with a Scottish Sunday newspaper before becoming a full-time author. He interviewed three Prime Ministers, reported on major stories including 9/11, Dunblane, the Omagh bombing and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He was pilloried on breakfast television, beat Oprah Winfrey to a major scoop, spent time on Death Row in the USA and dispensed polio drops in the backstreets of India.
His gritty crime novels are set on the mean streets of contemporary Glasgow. His first novel, Random, was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA New Blood Dagger, longlisted for the 2011 Crime Novel of the Year and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Murderabilia was longlisted for the 2017 Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize.
He now shares his time between Scotland and California and can usually be found on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic.
