Quote

The funny thing is, though I write mysteries, it is the one genre in adult fiction I never read. I read Nancy Drew, of course, when I was a kid, but I think the real appeal is as a writer because I'm drawn to puzzly, complicated plots.

I read a lot of 'Nancy Drew' books as a kid and considered myself a bit of an amateur detective.

I was obsessed with Nancy Drew growing up - I couldn't get enough.

I know a lot of crime writers feel very underrated, like they're not taken seriously, and they want to be just thought of as writers rather than ghettoised as crime writers, but I love being thought of firmly as a crime writer.

I think I'm part of a generation of crime writers all of whom woke up independently and recoiled with horror at the fact that we'd chosen this very conservative genre.

I wanted to be Carrie Vaughn the awesome writer, not the chick who writes the 'Kitty' books.

There is a very conservative element of crime writers that don't recognise what I do is crime fiction.

In everything I've written, the crime has always just been an occasion to write about other things. I don't have a picture of myself as writing crime novels. I like fairly strong narratives, but it's a way of getting a plot moving.

I write crime novels and thrillers - I'm a big fan of cops. You can never forget that they run towards what everyone else runs away from.