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.

I don't ever write with a particular audience in mind. I just write books that please me.

I love sports, as all Bostonians seem to. I love books and movies, as all writers seem to.

At some point as adults we cease to be our parents' children and we become our children's parents instead.

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

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.

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.