Pretending To Be 'normal' Is A Lot

Society Values Cooperation Over Independence, Obedience Over Individuality, And Niceness Above All Else.

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.

Of The First Seven Novels I Wrote, Numbers Four And Five Were Published. Numbers One, Two, Three, Six, And Seven, Have Never Seen The Light Of Day... And Rightly So.

I Attended The University Of Louisville My Freshman Year, Transferred To What Was Then Western Kentucky State Teachers College For My Sophomore And Junior Years, And Then Graduated From The University Of Louisville In The Summer Of 1961.

Sometimes The Hardest Part Of My Job Is The Incessant Reminder Of The Fact We're All Trying So Assiduously To Ignore: We Are Here Temporarily. Life Is Only Ours On Loan.