I'm basically an Upper West Side Jewish writer.

I write what I call 'novels of consolation' for people who are bright and sophisticated.

Whether you like it or not, Paris is the beating heart of Western civilisation. It's where it all began and ended.

I grew up reading genre writers, and to the degree that Eric Ambler and Graham Greene are genre writers, I'm a genre writer.

It takes me three months of research and nine months of work to produce a book. When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I'm gonna do 320, that's 160 days.

You write a lot of books; you hope you get better.

The printing presses of the state treasuries cranked out reams of paper currency- showing wise kinds and blissful martyrs- while bankers wept and peasants starved.