I wanted to write as well as I possibly could to deal with life-and-death problems in contemporary society. And the form of Wilkie Collins and Graham Greene, of Hammett and Chandler, seemed to offer me all the rope I would ever need.

An ugly woman with a gun is a terrible thing.

The surprise with which a detective novel concludes should set up tragic vibrations which run backward through the entire structure.

The walls were lined with books, many of them in foreign languages, like insulation against the immediate present.

I like a little danger. Tame danger, controlled by me. It gives me a sense of power, I guess, to take my life in my hands and know damn well I’m not going to lose it.

Freud was one of the greatest influences on me. He made myth into psychiatry, and I've been trying to turn it back into myth again.

There are certain families whose members should all live in different towns - different states, if possible - and write each other letters once a year.