Joe Wambaugh's a friend. I know him only casually, but I like him a lot. I think he likes my books.

Well, the clues are there. They always are. Which is why when crimes are solved decades after the fact, it's obvious that the clues had always been right in front of them. A traffic ticket in Brooklyn is how they got ["Son of Sam" serial killer] David Berkowitz. You've just got to look.

I begin by assembling notes on characters. Large swaths of the plot become clear to me as I do this.

There's none with me, although you've seen me before - I'm outrageous.

And the only forms of socialism in the world that were then getting results - malign ones, as it was - were the Fascist and Soviet republics. Fascism is a form of socialism - you rebuild the country, you find a scapegoat, and you go from there.

[Raymond] Chandler, I reread him, and there's a lot of bad writing there. I don't think he knew much about people.

As a kid, I sensed history going on all around me, but the basic thrust of it didn't move me.