Grade school was perilous. ... I can see how I must have worried them. I was the kind of kid who, for no apparent reason, wept piteously or threw up on myself. On an especially scary day, I sometimes did both.

any mystery writer is both magician and moralist ... two species of artist in short supply.

Dream big but think small.

If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.

Pay enough for anything and it passes for taste.

Pay minimum wage, you get minimum work. Nobody seems to get that.

There's really no such thing as an 'ex-cop' or a cop who's 'off-duty' or 'retired.' Once trained, once indoctrinated, a cop is always alert, assessing reality in terms of its potential for illegal acts.