I think of this as the first in a three-book series. The next will be set during the banking crisis and then the third – if I get around to it, which I hope I do – will be set more or less where we are now.

The Whistleblower by Robert Peston review | Evening Standard

It’s a slightly pretentious version of why I wrote it, but I do think that the chaos we’re living through now has roots in the late 1990s. I think a lot of people have felt lost in recent years, and some of that stems from the erosion of traditional class identification, which was accelerated and magnified by the fact that Labour decided it was broadly no longer a working-class party. It meant people lost their political lodestar. If people think I’d be any good as an MP, it’s mostly a function of how terrible the current lot may be Lord Peter Wimsey. Maybe I should say Harriet Vane? No, I’m not going to go for the politically correct version. Lord Peter Wimsey. Those books are so underrated and very funny. Elvis, too, is put on Leonora’s trail by his boss, the mysterious and powerful El Mago. As their paths converge and they get closer to the truth, their lives become more dangerous. I can’t wait to see what Moreno-Garcia does next. The DarkMembers of the public are constantly asking. If they think I’d be any good, I think it’s mostly a function of how terrible the current lot may be.

Robert Peston interview on his new book The Whistleblower Robert Peston interview on his new book The Whistleblower

McDermid, who worked as a journalist in the 70s and 80s, gives a nail-biting account of the newsroom, and Allie is another character I’m looking forward to learning more about.

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Once she’s in the post, she starts to discover details about Jean-Luc’s death that disturb her. Addled by the drugs she’s taking to deal with her anxieties and grief, unable to sleep in the permanent night, she wonders who she can trust. “Something is very wrong here, I realise. No… worse. Someone is very wrong here.”