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Plot is tremendously important to me: I can't stand books where nothing happens, and I can't imagine ever writing a novel without at least one murder.

My books are never about the crimes. They are about how the characters react to the crimes.

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

As a writer, you're making a pact with the reader; you're saying, 'Look, I know and you know that if this book was really a murder investigation, it would be a thousand pages long and would be very dull, and you would be very unhappy with the ending.'

With the crime novels, it's delightful to have protagonists I can revisit in book after book. It's like having a fictitious family.

For me, as a fan, when I read book series, I tend to be the most judgmental of the last book.

I'll never have so compelling a figure within my embrace as Joan of Arc; there will never be a book whose last chapter is so very hard to get right.