Nick Stone was born in Cambridge in 1966. His father is the historian Norman Stone, and his mother descends from one of Haiti’s oldest families, the Aubrys – some of his later relatives actually worked for Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, Haiti’s most notorious dictator.

Nick spent his early years in Haiti, before returning to England in 1971 to finish his schooling. As a teenager, he took up boxing and fought in the National Amateur League, but gave it up when he won a place to read history at Cambridge.

It was during a year spent in Haiti in the mid-nineties that the plot for Mr Clarinet first began to take shape.

He is married and lives in London.