It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.

All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.

I don't want anyone to look to me, not for protection, not for happiness, not for love, not for anything.

I learned early and at that kitchen table that there are ways of avoiding, without guilt, the commitments of love.

In 1930s mysteries, all sorts of motives were credible which aren't credible today, especially motives of preventing guilty sexual secrets from coming out. Nowadays, people sell their guilty sexual secrets.

There are few couples as unhappy as those who are too proud to admit their unhappiness.

Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.