Mary Queen of Scots was my first love, and that is always something special.

Of course there's no such thing as a totally objective person, except Almighty God, if she exists.

I think crime writing is my link with trying to preserve a sort of order.

It can be a long gap between the emergence of fully researched historical biographies.

The clue to book jacket photography is to look friendly and approachable, but not too glamorous.

I am re-reading Henry James as a change from history. I began with Daisy Miller, and I've just finished Washington Square. What a brilliant, painful book.

I'm glad I was never an heiress.