Where does the character of Tom Kirk come from?
When I was growing up and people asked me what I wanted to do, I would always oblige by telling them what they wanted to hear – a lawyer, or an accountant. The truth was, though, that from an early age I had harboured a secret ambition to become one of the world’s greatest art thieves – dancing around infra-red trip wires, abseiling down the sides of buildings, cracking open safes. So in a way this character, this incredibly successful art thief, has been living in my thoughts and fantasies ever since I was a child and has perhaps been at the root of my lifelong interest in art and antiques. The Double Eagle was the first chance I got to bring him properly to life.
