I'm a disciple of Raymond Chandler, who said in his essays that there's a quality of redemption in anything that can be called art.

It's only a wonderful world if you can make it that way. There are no street signs pointing to Paradise Road.

Deep in my heart it still feels like I'm a journalist even though I haven't worked for a paper and carried a press pass for 14 years.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that when you look into the darkness of the abyss the abyss looks into you. Probably no other line or thought more inspires or informs my work.

There is nothing you can do about the past except keep it there.

Don't go growing a conscience on me," I said. "I've been down that road. It doesn't lead you to anything good.

The built-in form is a window frame. You can use this genre [crime fiction] to go where you want to go, and explore what you want to explore. In some ways it gives you a lot of freedom because you have a framework readers are looking for.