It wasn’t that strangers couldn’t hurt you. It was simply that the people you loved could do it so much better.

What I loved about romances was the character, and I think I still bring that to my novels. What romance taught me was that the 'who' will always matter more than the 'what.' It's fun to come up with plots, but I want to make sure the reader cares about who it's happening to.

Before I became a suspense novelist, I wrote romantic suspense as Alicia Scott.

It is difficult to get men to pick up a female author. Women will read men, but men won't read women.

All I've really ever done is write since I was 17, so I don't know anything about anything. For me to do a novel, I have to talk to people who know things. And what keeps me in suspense is that I am a crime aficionado.

I still like the relationship part of any story. You don't want your character to figure everything out and then at the end of the day, go home and eat soup from a can by herself.

Whomever speaks first gives up some power.