Hi Simon Kernick, thank's that you have taking the time to answer a few questions of Elements of Crime.

Okay, here we go. Please tell us something about the Person Simon Kernick.

I'm a father of two daughters; a full-time crime writer with ten published books; and have had a variety of jobs in the past including barman, labourer, Christmas Tree uprooter, and salesman; and am an all-round nice guy. Honestly!

How was the “author” in you born?

I've always wanted to write, ever since I could pick up a pen as a young child. I started writing stories, and as I got older, they got longer. It was only when I was working in an office job, and thinking I can't do this for the rest of my life, that I decided to try to get something published. However, I had to write two thrillers that were rejected by pretty much every agent and publisher in the UK, before I finally got my break with THE BUSINESS OF DYING in 2001.

You investigate for your books with real police officers of a special unit. How it came to the arrangement?

I'm very lucky that I've been introduced by friends of friends to a number of police officers down the years, and through them have built up a very good network of cops who I talk to in order to get the real story of their lives and their work. What I find is that they tend to open up to me, and give me the inside information that often you don't read about in the papers, because they know that I'm a writer of fiction rather than a journalist, and know that I won't use their names!

I would like an idea of your work routine. Do you write more in the morning or evening? How many hours? You count words or pages?

I write every day Monday to Friday, and only occasionally at the weekends, and I tend to work to office hours, but with a big break around lunchtime. And I count every word. My aim is to write 2000 a day.

What are you working on right now? You told me that you work on your novel 11, please can you tell us something about the story?

I can't say too much right now, other than that it's a very fast paced thriller, with completely new characters, and it's set over six hours in a very small physical space. I'm also thinking it's the best thing I've written so far, although I guess you could say I would say that, wouldn't I?

Your first novel "The Business Of Dying” (Gnadenlos) was published in 2002 and " with “Last 10 Seconds” (Instinkt) in 2010, the 6 novel appears in Germany. More will follow. How has your writing changed over that time?

I like to think it's got better, but I have to say, it never gets easier.

Do you have a favorite book of which you've written? If so, why this book?

I like most (though not all) of them, but my favourite is probably A GOOD DAY TO DIE, which will be published later in Germany later this year. It's the story of a vigilante cop returning to London from the Philippines to avenge the death of his former partner. I liked the cop character, Dennis Milne, who I've used in several other books, and have always found him satisfying to write about. I also liked the story, which was fast-paced, but with an injection of black humour. I hope some of your readers will agree.

Do you've an favourite crime fiction hero of other writers?

New York PI, Matt Scudder, who's the creation of Lawrence Block. He's an amazing character who ages through the books from a young, to an old geezer in his mid sixties.