Well, I can't remember not being able to read. I was told I could read by myself very well at the age of three.

Tell him I hate him to his guts and the marrow of his bones!

It was in a way a comforting idea; if there was all the time in the world, then the happenings of a given moment became less important.

Not for the first time, I reflected that intimacy and romance are not synonymous.

I read all the time. People ask, 'Do you read while you work?' And I say, 'I better.' I take two or three years to finish one of my enormous books, and I can't go that long without reading.

When the day shall come that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'-ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.

Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.