Writer

The most enduring stories in literature generally have some kind of crime at their center, whether it's the bloody butchery of 'Hamlet,' the lecherous misanthropes of Dickens or the lone gunman from 'The Great Gatsby.'

When I became a published writer, I said, 'Whatever I can do to help the libraries I want to do,' so all of my book tours since then have involved me coming to a library and talking about how important libraries are for a community.

When I was little, my grandmother would take me to church with her, and she would introduce me to people.

It's a very Southern thing to be interested in dark stuff.

Most of my books begin with a nap on my couch here, when I dream up characters and story lines, and then I write on my laptop in the recliner and handle the business side of email at my desk, which is sagging in the middle - maybe from so many words?

Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If they are really good, they make us believe that we are better for having read them. You don't read a book - you experience it. Every story opens up a new world.

Women can be two different people - one person at home, another at work.

If there is still an American dream, reading is one of the bootstraps by which we can all pull ourselves up.

I never really fitted in, because I've always been interested in really dark things.

Visual storytelling is at once immediate and subversive.

People don't just love mysteries. They are obsessed with them - especially the kind that are never definitively solved.

There aren't many people in the world who can say that they are doing the job they've wanted to do since childhood, so in that regard, I feel incredibly fortunate.

My sister lived in England for a while when I was 12, and I came to visit her, and I spent most of the time in her flat reading.

It seems like women are always told, 'It is not your time.'

What I know is the characters in a Southern town. I know the cadence of the language and the voice of Atlanta because I've lived here for so long. And I know the neighborhoods, and I hopefully know the people, and I feel a connection to them. And I also feel like I'm honoring them when I talk about them.

I have a superhero complex. If I see anything bad happen, I run towards it, rather idiotically because, after all, what could I do?

Books are not like albums, where you can simply download and enjoy your favorite chapter and ignore the rest.

I love twins stories.

When I was growing up, my stepmother's sister was the chief detective in one of the adjoining towns, so she piqued my interest in crime.

People forget that writers start off being readers. We all love it when we find a terrific read, and we want to let people know about it.