When you're on book tours, you definitely need chocolate. At all times.

My secret vice is Sudoku puzzles. Can't stop playing them. My parents are accountants. I blame them entirely.

We're all in this together - when one writer succeeds, all writers succeed. I love discovering new authors. I think we need to take care of each other and talk about craft and nurture talent.

I'm unique for a suspense author in that I don't have a specialty background. A lot of suspense writers used to be lawyers or crime beat reporters. I didn't even know a cop when I started out. I finally figured out that I could visit prisons - I just had to be willing to make the phone calls.

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

Expect nothing and life will be velvet.

I like to believe my suspense novels marry the strong characters from my romance writing past, with the twisty, clever plots of my mystery writing present.