I've never even done a residency.

I smoke cigarettes when I write, which is disgusting, but it really helps me.

We lost so many talented artists and writers from the generations before ours that we're really lacking older figureheads.

One day I want to write a full-on horror book.

People aren't doing whodunits anymore.

As much as I adore Agatha Christie - and I think people make this claim about murder mysteries in general - it's often a very conservative mode of storytelling. Usually it's the greedy, climbing, new-money slimeball who wants to take from the aristocracy.

I like the idea of the book being wiser than the person who wrote it. None of the novels I've written are direct transcriptions of me blathering over dinner with a glass of wine in my hand. I don't hold any illusion of those conversations being of particular value. The books, though, are - I hope - bigger than my opinions, investigations that go beyond my own intellect or wit.