Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

Talking of the local Sheriff, Jake Valentine, tall and skinny and his wife Myra, "She was a short woman, maybe five feet tall in her socks, the top of her head not quite reaching Jake's chest. What she lacked in height she made up for in girth. Jeffrey guessed she was at least a hundred pounds overweight. Standing side by side, the Valentines looked like the living embodiment of the number ten.

[On men:] ... you never know what they're like until you get them home and take them out of their packages.

A lot of novels use crime as a stepping stone to talk about greater issues. So I just think of myself as a writer.

When a woman creates an unlikable character, a lot of people think it's a mistake.

Like every Southern writer, I thought that I needed to write the next Gone With the Wind.

It really sucks getting older. Sometimes I'll be walking along and I'll just glance over my shoulder to make sure nothing has fallen off.