I really had no inkling that this book was going to be the breakthrough. I was totally naive then. I was writing the books I wanted to write and not really looking at the market or what was really selling. Crime fiction is huge now... If you'd asked me which one of the books I thought would be the seller it would be The Last Tiger. I really thought I was onto something with that book. The writing seemed to be a huge leap from anything I'd ever done before. It's certainly my most Australian book and I'm really proud of it... Maybe it'll even be published one of these days.

What did you learn from writing the previous four unpublished novels? Do you hope to get them published?

When I started writing I hadn't a clue, seriously. I had this vague notion that I wanted to write a novel and I sat down and battered out 80,000 words without any real understanding of the craft. It was essentially plotless, which was a bit of an omission. I quickly set about getting to understand the craft and I have a brilliant agent who is also a fabulous editor, so that's a bit of a help but you really never stop learning as a writer. Each book is entirely different and has different challenges.

What has the response been like for Paying For It?

Touch wood, we haven't had a single bad review... It's fair to say that everyone involved is blown away. There's been a huge amount of interest in the book for a first novel and some comparisons to the likes of Ian Rankin, Allan Guthrie and Ken Bruen, which has been very flattering but a bit unreal. As a first-time writer you kind of expect to be ignored and maybe, after a few books, get a review in one of the papers but the interest in my character, Gus Dury, has been a amazing.

I assume there are more Gus Dury stories in the works.

The second one, Gutted, is already written. I've talked to my publishers about the possibility of writing 20 or so books featuring Gus Dury. It's a huge number - and who knows really how many there will actually be - but I'm far from done with Gus.

I like the references to Frenzal Rhomb and The Dirtbombs. Do you listen to a lot of music while you write?

And David Bowie. You forgot The Thin White Duke! Yeah. Music's hugely important to me. I grew up in the eighties listening to The Jam and Madness and the love's never left me. But I can't listen to music with lyrics when I write, the words get in the way. I listen to things like Ravel and Debussy, y'know, pretentious stuff!

Do you miss Australia?

I miss Australia like you wouldn't believe... My wife (Madeline) is majorly homesick for the place. She continually gripes about not being able to take the dog down the beach like she did in Warrnambool. I'd actually love to move back to Australia, perhaps even Warrnambool. I had some great times there and met some wonderful people that I'm lucky to still be in touch with.

Are you still working as a journalist? How did you juggle novel writing and journalism?

I'm only part-time now and the way my commitments are stacking up I'll be scaling that back even further. Journalism isn't the game it used to be, it's got far too concerned with protecting shareholders' interests than the quality of the writing so I'll be glad to get out of this racket to be honest. When I was working full-time as a journalist it was very difficult... To sit in front of a PC and churn out word counts, then go home and do the same all over again is exhausting.

Paying For It is out now through Random House imprint Preface.