My earliest reading memory

I was six, and in the lounge in my first home in Manchester. I was sitting cross-legged on the grey carpet, in 1977, when I finished reading whichever of Enid Blyton’s brilliant Secret Seven mysteries contains the mind-blowing (genuinely, for a six-year-old) twist that “Emma Lane” turns out to be a road and not a person.

My favourite book growing up

Up to the age of 12, Blyton’s Secret Seven and Five Find-Outers mysteries; from 12 onwards, it was Agatha Christie . Growing up, I was certain that no other kind of story could ever hope to be as satisfying as the very best mystery story.

The book that changed me as a teenager

When I was 15, my father suggested, forcefully, that I ought to read, as well as the mystery books I loved, other books that were more

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