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.

You didn't realize what was passing you by until you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.

Being a Southerner, Im interested in sex, violence, religion and all the things that make life interesting.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.

Alafair Burke understands the criminal mind. Long Gone is both an education and an entertainment of the first order. This is a very clever and very smart novel by a very clever and smart writer. The dialogue crackles, the plot is intriguing, and the pacing is perfect.

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