I was accidentally in Taggart – it inspired a crime novel

Jonathan admits he has always had a slightly macabre imagination. While working a weekend job in a kilt maker’s, he would often while away quiet moments by plotting how to get away with murder.

His writing is heavily influenced by the 10 years he spent working in journalism, but he credits the relationship between Jason and Amita, and the plot for his first cosy crime book The Bingo Hall Detectives, to his own mother-in-law.

“I was over at her house about five years ago and this old Irish popstar Philomena Begley came on TV. I turned to her and said ‘what would happen if she was murdered and you and I had to catch the killer?’

“Margaret, in her own indomitable way, said ‘You and I would kill each other long before we caught them.’”

The Concert Hall Killer hit shelves last week and Jonathan says he has since been “hugely humbled” by reviews.

He has just finished the first draft of the fourth Bingo Hall book – and hopes to write another two.

Having settled in Canada, with his wife Anne Marie, toddler Henry and another baby on the way, Jonathan says it’s still very much family that keeps his creativity alive.

“The new one is dedicated to the three of them,” he said. “ But I got a message from my mother-in-law and she said ‘that’s a lovely dedication – who is it?’

“I said ‘Who do you think it is? It’s Anne Marie, Henry and the new baby.’ She thought it was dedicated to her and her two sisters. Families, right?”