When you work alone, you need to socialize at some level.

Certainly going back to Sherlock Holmes we have a tradition of forensic science featured in detective stories.

I've often said that there's no such thing as writer's block; the problem is idea block. When I find myself frozen-whether I'm working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book-it's usually because I'm trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place.

I write pretty much anywhere - on planes, in hotel rooms, anywhere in my house.

Generally my typical books have lots of twists and turns a big surprise ending and then usually another surprise at the end and ideally, as in Garden of Beasts, we get to the very end and we find at the last few pages that there's yet another surprise.

She was reflecting back on a truth she had learned over the years: that people heard what they wanted to hear, saw what they wanted, believed what they wanted.

If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say