Summer is always particularly hard on Sevillian homicide detective Javier Falcon. As the streets heat up so do people’s tempers and the crime rate soars. But this year, things are about to get even hotter. A routine investigation into a fire turns up something far more sinister: remnants of bomb-making equipment. Suddenly, Falcon finds himself at the centre of a full-scale terrorist alert. As panic sweeps the city, emptying its bars and restaurants and sparking false alarms and evacuations, Falcon’s family connections in Morocco quickly make him a central figure in the investigation, allowing him to use his relationships to establish a vital source of information. A bizarre picture begins to emerge, linking apparently Islamist terror acts to a shadowy and well-connected Catholic organization bent on revenge. However, the stakes start getting dramatically higher. High-profile arrests, a series of explosions and a suspect publicly gunned down in the street rock the city to its core. Reports of arms deals and stolen radioactive material begin to circulate as a fifteen man cell lands in Seville. But it is only when the cell goes missing that Falcon makes the most terrifying discovery of all…

Robert Wilson was born in 1957, the son of an RAF pilot. After graduating from Oxford in English, he was forced to re-think his sporting career following a motoring accident.

He travelled extensively, touring the states and travelling to Nepal in a VW van before working in Crete on archaeological tours. He then took jobs in shipping and advertising but soon grew restless.

Wandering is in Rob's nature and he can hardly believe he makes his living sitting at a desk typing. After marrying in 1986 he spent a year travelling across Africa with his wife, an experience he recommends "if you want to know if you can live with someone for the rest of your life... the desert tells you things about yourself". It would also teach him everything he needed to know to write his atmospheric African novels.

He continued work in shipping in West Africa until eventually his English degree caught up with him: he fell in love with Portugal and began renovating an isolated farmhouse while beginning to write his first novel.

He is now the writer of eight critically acclaimed novels. A Small Death in Lisbon won the CWA Gold Dagger for best novel and his Javier Falcon have been published to critical acclaim. The Hidden Assassins is the latest in the series.

This interview looks at all aspects of a writer's life, and touches on just how hard it is to write novels these days. Robert was fantastic to talk to, and his books are beautifully crafted.

Interview by Stuart Beaton