Happiness Is Seasonal, Like Anything Else

Lying Contains The Same Hostile Elements As A Practical Joke In That The 'victim' Ends Up Looking Foolish In His Own Eyes And Laughable In Everyone Else's.

My Second Husband And I Were Going Through A Bitter Divorce, And I Didn't Have The Money For A Fancy-pants Attorney. I Didn't Know How To Fight, So I'd Lie Awake At Night And Think Of Ways To Kill Him. But I Knew I'd Get Caught, So I Decided To Put It In A Book And Get Paid For It! I Always Think It's Odd That A Whole Career Came Out Of That Homicidal Impulse.

My Father Taught Me To Love Detective Fiction Writers Such As Raymond Chandler. When I Decided To Have A Hard-boiled Detective Series I Did A Lot Of Studying Before I Wrote The First Book. I Learned Police Procedure, The California Criminal Law, And Many Areas Outside My Expertise.

I've Never Written About My Husband, Steve, Or Any Of My Children Because I Know Them All Too Well. I See Them In All Their Complexities Which Makes Them Impossible To Render On The Printed Page.

Everything Happens For A Reason, But That Doesn't Mean There's A Point.