How to Make a Negroni When my 1920s-set mystery novel required an apéritif that was both sinister and festive, I thought: Negroni. The only trouble was I had never actually drunk one. I’m not a fan of Campari. Not only does it remind me unpleasantly of an ex-boyfriend’s judgy, country-club… Read more
I write a series of submarine thrillers based on The Trident Deception, which Booklist hailed as, “The best submarine novel since The Hunt for Red October.” One of the questions I occasionally get is: Did I plan for The Trident Deception to become a series? The answer is—No. I didn’t… Read more
Depending on where and when you’re reading this, you may or may not have watched The Bodyguard, which achieved record TV viewing figures when screened by the BBC in the UK this autumn. Its plot, about a troubled war veteran assigned to protect a controversial politician, kept audiences gripped every… Read more
If your name is Michael Connelly, Lee Child, or Harlan Coben, you don’t have to worry about audiences finding your books. Those guys—and the select few authors in the same category of general popularity and writing excellence—have established a brand, hooked an audience, and set themselves up for continued readership…. Read more
Alfred Hitchcock. That’s my first answer when people ask me who I like as an author. I have to be honest though; I do not think of him as an author. I always think of Alfred Hitchcock as a director. Hitchcock was a storyteller first and foremost. He had an… Read more
The second born of the six Mitford sisters, Pamela Mitford is perhaps the one most easily overlooked. Where her siblings achieved fame and notoriety for their novels, extreme political opinions, enormous stately homes, or racy living, Pamela was best known—if at all—as “the country girl.” In some ways, this made… Read more
When it comes to a good mystery, the setting is everything. True, people can be murdered anywhere and, yes, most crimes probably get solved in the forensics lab, but that’s not the stuff that makes the spine tingle and the flesh creep. When I’m settling down for a truly terrorizing… Read more
We like the dependable. We say we desire unpredictability and we do when it comes to how a story unfolds. However, when it comes to protagonists in a series, we generally enjoy feeling confident about how our hero, or anti-hero, will feel about a given situation. That’s usually what readers… Read more
If you’re like me, reading good crime fiction conjures up all sorts of images. The sound and feel of a bullet spiraling out of the gun and hitting its mark can make you wince. The sight of the detective discovering the one clue that solves the case draws you right… Read more
The biggest difference between my previous real FBI life working undercover and my post-career writing FBI fictional thrillers is simple—I can’t get shot or stabbed sitting at my kitchen table pecking away at computer keystrokes. Chuckle if you will, but it is the honest truth. After 30+ plus years of… Read more
