AUTHOR OF THE MONTH

Matthew Quintin Jardine was born in Motherwell on 29 June 1945, the son of two teachers. He was educated at Knowetop Primary School, Motherwell, and at the High School of Glasgow. He went on to study law at the University of Glasgow, briefly and without enthusiasm, before stepping cautiously in 1964 into a career which began in journalism, as a trainee on his local newspaper The Motherwell Times.  Gradually he evolved into a full-time writer. His first novel, Skinner's Rules, was published in 1993, and nominated for the John Creasey award of the UK Crime Writers' Association.