Crime fiction and stand-up seem a little incongruous. What motivated the move from the one to the other?
MB: It wasn’t deliberate. I’ve always loved crime fiction and when I started writing it I got very lucky. I enjoy doing the two things: dark imaginings by day and jokes by night. They’re not as different as you might imagine.

Is your comedy influenced by your fiction or your fiction by your comedy?
MB: I don’t think so. There are certainly jokes in the books, but they’re very dark. My comedy is certainly not dark. There are a great many comics whom I admire enormously, but as with fiction, it’s important to find your own voice. As far as inspiration goes, it comes from anywhere and everywhere, rather in the same way that ideas for the books come from a variety of sources.

What are your best/worst memories of the stand-up circuit?
MB: I’ve had some terrible heckles, but I can’ t tell you what they were. Just thinking about them makes me cry. My best experiences have been on trips such as this one, discovering a country I have not visited before.

Do you foresee any more radical changes in your career, or is crime fiction here to stay?
MB: No, barring disasters, I will be writing crime fiction for the rest of my life. So many people want to write books that I consider it a great privilege to do it for a
living. I just hope I don’t run out of ideas.—Alexander Suebsaeng