Q: You’ve had quite a colourful life, with occupations as diverse as shooting instructor and professional musician. Was there any job that particularly stands out? And if you weren’t a writer, what would you most like to be doing now?

A: The craziest era of my life was the five years spent as a keyboard player in a professional touring Irish band. One of the nice legacies of that period is that I can tell you where to get the best pint of Guinness in Britain! As to what I’d most like to be doing now if I weren’t a writer: I have a lot of interest in astronomy, and in fact had embarked on a degree in the subject, which then had to be put on the back-burner thanks to the Ben Hope stories. So, in a parallel universe I guess that’s one of the career directions I would have taken. Another major interest of mine is architecture. I would love to be able to design, and live in, a house like the one I devised for my character Philippe Aragon in The Mozart Conspiracy. I have a piece of woodland in west Wales, and I’m always imagining the kind of inventive eco-friendly building that could be amalgamated into that wild landscape.

Q: If you could go back to a period in history, which would it be and why?

A: There probably isn’t a period in history I’d like to return to for too long! However, on condition that I could return to the present again afterwards, there are quite a few historical epochs I’d like to pay flying visits to, in order to find out the answers to some of the great mysteries of the world. One of those, of course, would be the mystery of what really happened to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! Another would be ancient Egypt, which is truly a fascinating part of history. It would also be nice to be able to go back and have conversations with philosophers like Spinoza, to chat with Isaac Newton about astronomy, or catch some time with scientists like Giordano Bruno before the Catholic Inquisition burned the poor guy at the stake.

Q: What are you working on next?

A: The next Ben Hope book, of course! I can’t say too much about it yet, but I think that readers who enjoyed The Mozart Conspiracy will love the next one…

Acknowledgements

Again, special thanks to the team at Avon/HarperCollins UK-the most dynamic, insightful and fun gang of editors a writer could wish for.

Many thanks also to the various people involved in the development of this Ben Hope adventure. I am especially grateful to Peter and Maureen Smart, and Rob Gaffney of the Hamble School of Yachting for offering seafaring advice to a complete landlubber. And, as always, a big thanks to the support team that provided the many litres of red wine that enabled this book to be written.

About the Author

Scott Mariani grew up in St Andrews, Scotland. He studied Modern Languages at Oxford and went on to work as a translator, a professional musician, a pistol shooting instructor and a freelance journalist before becoming a full-time writer. After spending several years in Italy and France, Scott discovered his secluded writer’s haven in the wilds of west Wales, an 1830s country house complete with rambling woodland and a secret passage. When he isn’t writing, Scott enjoys jazz, movies, classic motorcycles and astronomy. His debut novel, The Alchemist’s Secret, was published in 2008.

To find out more about Scott Mariani go to www.scottmariani.com