Not yet. St Martin’s Press have the rights and will publish The Hidden Man at some point in the future, possibly in 2013. The Hidden Man may still be available via amazon and other retailers in the UK.

A Spy By Nature has been optioned by Silent War films. John Hodge, who wrote Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, has written the screenplay. Silent War also have first refusal on The Spanish Game. The rights to Typhoon have been sold to Cameron Docherty, a Scottish screenwriter based in Los Angeles, in partnership with Gail Salomon. The Trinity Six has been optioned by Universal Studios. The rights to The Hidden Man and A Foreign Country have not been optioned.

My next book will be called 'A Foreign Country', for publication in 2012. The first female head of MI6 vanishes without trace while on holiday in the south of France. Thomas Kell, a former intelligence officer who left the Service in mysterious circumstances, is hired to find her.

I hope so. I always intended to write a trilogy of novels about Alec, but other projects have got in the way. I would like Alec to find some sort of personal and professional redemption. The third instalment would take place largely in the United States.

Possibly. The idea of writing a novel about China’s impact on Africa is intriguing to me. Joe would be the perfect man to send into that environment.

Yes - click here 

Because I have moved publishers. Penguin have allowed A Spy by Nature, The Hidden Man and The Spanish Game to go out of print. However, A Spy by Nature and The Spanish Game will be available as Harper Collins e-books in February 2011 (free downloads) and as paperbacks in March 2012.

No. The first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) was called Mansfield Cumming. He was born Mansfield Smith, but married a Cumming (no relation either) and then took her name because it was less run-of-the-mill. The letter 'C', used today to identify the 'Chief' of MI6, was originally an abbreviation of 'Cumming'.