So intense was his sexual frustration that it had begun to feel like a life-threatening illness: testicular gout, libidinal gangrene.

I was always determined that one way or another I would force a book on the world, even if I had to resort to writing one about a tabby cat who solves mysteries.

I always save a huge book for a flight, because then you read it at both airports and on the plane and by the time you get home you're a quarter of the way through and it doesn't feel so unmanageable any more.

It seems to me that the basic plot of all historical novels is a romance swept aside by history.

When I'm writing new material, I never have any trouble coming up with ideas.

Statistically, you don't have much chance of becoming president if you're not tall and fairly handsome or at least conventional-looking.

I don't have a day job, so I read any time of day.