Civil servants take forever to do anything.

When I interview people accused of capital offenses, I never even ask if they did it. I would consider that unprofessional.

I enjoy doing the research of nonfiction; that gives me some pleasure, being a detective again.

I'm sure I took some licks at the system, and at trials and lawyers in general. I've seen enough of them for so many years both as a cop and a defendant in defamation cases.

Probably 95 percent of the things that are written never get on the screen.

When I wrote The Onion Field, I realized that my first two novels were just practice.

The Onion Field made a real writer. And then I knew it was over, I couldn't be a cop anymore.