There's nothing quite as irksome as someone else's mess.

I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.

I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since.

I read the paper every day. There are certain subjects that will catch my attention. I have an entire file of articles. Of course I make up the story, especially since most criminals are not very smart and fictional crime must be clever. I have to make sure the story I am telling is interesting and realistic. In this book I went on line and found out the manners of codes. I thought it interesting to use them as a jumping off point.

Lucky is the spouse who dies first, who never has to know what survivors endure.

Sometimes I claim I write because I put in an application at Sears and they've never called back.

I've never written about my husband, Steve, or any of my children because I know them all too well. I see them in all their complexities which makes them impossible to render on the printed page.