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.

An emotion is a thought, yes, an idea, but it is also a sensation, an ache in your body. Desire, love, hate, fear, repulsion - you feel these things in your muscle and bones, not just in your mind.

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.

Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.

Genes are not simple triggers. No one is hardwired to commit murder or any other crime. Our actions are always the result of stupendously complex gene-environment interactions, and environment is likely to remain the more important influence by far.

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