It's just as political, what you do in the bedroom is just as political as what you do in public.

I was never afraid on stage. That's where I was the least afraid. I could just do what I do and I had the amplification and the lights.

My dad liked more macho adventure books like Shogun or spy novels. My mother reads murder mysteries. In fact, so does her mother, my grandma. That's where I trace the familial line of murder mystery obsession.

You find when you're writing a detective story that you're actually not trying to solve anything. You're trying to stop the reader from solving the puzzle.

It's just as political, what you do in the bedroom is just as political as what you do in public.

I have to say I do read partly for escapism. Why can't I escape and learn something?

There seem to be two ways of generating interest from the reader: withholding information or by telling the reader on the first page exactly what's going to happen.