Scottish crime author Peter May took time out from promoting his latest novel to discuss everything from his favourite whisky to the most treasured item on his bookshelf.

Coffin Road, a story of conspiracy and murder set in the Outer Hebrides, is Peter May's 22nd book and follows on from the success of international bestseller The Lewis Trilogy.

What is the Coffin Road?

The real Coffin Road is a track that crosses the Isle of Harris from east to west and derives from a time when people in the east coast couldn't bury their dead because the soil there is so thin they couldn't dig graves. They had to carry their dead across this track, which went over the mountains to the west coast where there is rich, deep, sandy soil that was perfect for burying the bodies.

How do you go about plotting a murder?

It's a weird process. I don't know if there is any formula for it. It tends to be an organic thing. I think the process works by posing questions to yourself. You come up with and idea and say: 'what if this happened?' The process of answering the questions effectively constructs your story for you.

Whisky always seems to feature at some stage in your books, do you have a favourite tipple?

My favourite is Balvenie Doublewood which I'm very fond of, if you're talking about the more peaty variety then Caol Ila would be my favourite.

Where did the inspiration for the book come from?

The thing that motivated me was a real life mystery: why are bees dying off in extraordinary and frightening numbers around the world? There was a strong suspicion that it was the use of a group of pesticides based around neonicotinoids, which are derived from nicotine, and apparently the bees actually get addicted to it. This is a really important thing in terms of the future of the Earth and the human race and I was very keen to come up with a story that would explore it.

And in the process of researching the book you stumbled across the proof that supported this theory?

I came across a Scottish scientist who had found the smoking gun. He had come up with definitive proof that a particular one of the neonicotinoids was killing off the brain cells in bees. It wasn't toxic in the sense it was killing them outright but it was killing off brain cells so that they lost memory.

Who do you invite to your dream dinner party?

Ernest Hemingway, love him or loathe him an extraordinary character. Dorothy Parker for her acerbic wit and maybe Sean Connery because I've always been in awe of Sean, a man of great presence and charisma.

When did you first get into writing?

I wrote what you might call my first book when I was four years old. It was about six or seven pages long, with about a dozen words a page and it was called Ian the Elf and I made a cover for it, which I sewed together.

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing with yourself?

I'd loved to have been a rock star.

You've written more than 20 books and hit TV shows, do you write for enjoyment, money or just to keep yourself sane?

It certainly never was money because I walked away from a high-paid job in television to work in a no-paid job writing books. I don't know if I get any pleasure out of writing . All I can say is that writers are born with something in their DNA and you're kind of driven to do it. It's a kind of madness I think.

You've done your fair share of travelling, what's your favourite city in the world?

Probably Edinburgh. I went to college in Edinburgh, I lived there for several years when we were making Take the High Road in the old Gateway Theatre. It's a place that is pretty well unique.

Do you find it easier to write with experience or does it get harder to come up with new ideas?

I think it gets harder to motivate yourself to write. I like to write quickly so I've evolved a system where I get up at 6am and write 3000 words a day. So the book's finished in about seven weeks. There was a time in my life when I was younger when I found that quite easy to do but the older I get the harder it is to drag myself out of bed at 6am.

What's on your reading list at the moment?

The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home. It's about an oceanographer based in Edinburgh who's able to track bodies around the world by the tides and currents.

What is the most treasured item on your bookshelf at home?

When I was a kid, my uncle's wife committed suicide and he came to live with us. He got my room and I had to sleep on the sofa on the living room. There was two bookshelves at the end of the sofa filled with some of my parents' books. I read all the books on those shelves and I still have them all. When my parents passed on I took possession of these books and they now line the bookshelf of my home down here in Spain. I think that was the thing more than anything else that got me into writing.

What's next for Peter May?

I'm actually working with (I probably shouldn't tell you his name) a rock star of the 80s and 90s, who was big in the UK but bigger in America. We're working together on a stage musical showcasing the best of his songs. So I'm getting to live my rock star dream vicariously.

What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?

Don't do anything differently. The good times and the bad, it doesn't matter, one informs the other. Bad things generally lead to good things. If you change one thing you change everything.