Biography

He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2002 Queen's Jubilee Birthday Honors List for his services to literature.

Regularly enjoys pepperoni pizza.

Received an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree for his achievements as an outstanding and talented author at the University of Hull, 26th January 2006

He was awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Platinum Honours List for his services to literature and charity.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, vol. 137, pages 305-308. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

[Talking about the imminent prospect of his fictional detective, DI John Rebus, having to retire from the force] He's now fifty-eight, fifty-nine. And he has to retire at sixty. Questions have been asked in the Scottish Parliament. There's a Fife MSP called Helen Eadie who asked the Justice Minister if she could change the retirement age for cops in Scotland so that Rebus could keep going. And I think Kathy Jamieson said that probably people - real-life cops - wouldn't be too happy about the retirement age changing for a fictional character.

I remember being very impressed as a young lad when I read in Sounds that Sting was into Thomas Pynchon. 'Wow! I like Pynchon. He likes Pynchon. Sting must be OK.' Later on I discovered, 'No, he's not, he's a pillock.'

I don't spend money on fripperies. Just on essentials like beer and vinyl.

[speculating how his imaginary character, Inspector Rebus, would view his creator] He'd find me a wishy-washy, lily-livered liberal who's never had to do a hard day's manual work in his life, who's been suckled by the state from birth. That's kind of why I like him. I like having these internal arguments with him about the way the world is.

[observation, 2013] The Scottish independence debate is school-playground stuff. And anyone who sticks his head above the parapet, there's a rotten tomato waiting for him from one side or the other.