Charlie Higson: “Double M” is still the working title. I quite like it as it combines the double from 007 and “M”, who is head of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6. But the title’s not considered racy enough. “Double M” (“MM”) refers to the symbol of a secret criminal society in the second book.

Charlie Higson: It’s mainly set in Sardinia. It contains pirates, bandits, art thieves and a shoot out in a cave; everything you could want from a James Bond book. James goes to Sardinia on a school archaeological trip. I wanted to set the second book somewhere reasonably exotic. James Bond is known for travelling to such places. But it had to be somewhere James could get to during the summer holidays. That’s why I chose the Mediterranean. I didn’t want to use somewhere overly familiar like Greece or Italy or Spain. People don’t know much about Sardinia. It’s an interesting island with a history of banditry. I’ve been there a few times and I really like it. I saw an artist’s impression of a cave there. Inside are the remains of a Neolithic village. I thought it would make a great villain’s lair. I visited the cave last week and it’s not quite as exciting as the artists’ impression but the whole island is covered in remains of monuments and towers from the past, built between 2000 and 3000 BC. It’s a fantastic setting for an adventure.