Probably careful plotting reflects my personality. I am meticulous by nature. I can't imagine speed-writing anything that happens to pop into my head.

I can't say that I ever actually decided to become a writer. It kind of snuck up on me.

Crime and legal stories, broadly speaking, are just where my interest happens to lie.

no one worth knowing can be quite known, no one worth possessing can be quite possessed

There is no absolute beginning to any story, after all. There is only the moment you begin watching.

There are many more ways to be attractive than to be beautiful.

When I was 30 or so - by that time I had become an assistant D.A. - I decided I would try to write a novel. To be clear: I did not decide to become a novelist. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I could actually earn a living as a professional novelist.