What one's goal should be is just to become a better writer and to tell different kinds of stories.

After I outlined 'Catering to Nobody,' I went and worked for a caterer. And the other thing I had to do was to talk to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department about how they investigated a crime.

One thing that improved my cooking skills was being a poor student in California... If you don't have much money, you have to learn to cook.

I'm always astonished to see how badly people can behave when they think no one is noticing.

Catering is extremely demanding financially and physically. It's a business.

I told the caterer I'd work for nothing if he'd teach me about catering. I lasted one week full-time. It was exhausting.

When I started to write culinary mysteries, I did it because nobody was doing it anymore.