Music is an important part of my writing process.

Drafting is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.The closer you get to the end, the more you start to worry about the beginning.

...I don't have concrete plans for the future. I just think of success and keep a successful attitude. Success is 99 percent preparation. If you set yourself up for winning, rarely will you fail.

There are people who can achieve huge success in life, while adding a bit of fun and a splash of colour to this increasingly grey world.

I think the police are a major part of the glue that holds civilised life together. They're not highly paid.

Brighton is a beautiful seaside city, but it's got a dark underbelly.

I travel abroad constantly on book promotion and research, and the Internet is invaluable to me for accessing U.K. news in places such as America, which most of the time hasn't heard of England.

The biggest qualification to be a good police officer is to have a high degree of emotional intelligence.

Death is just nature's way of making room for the less experienced.

I think that Brighton, for a crime writer, is almost like a character.

If you talk to any cop, however hardened, and say, "Has anything that's ever bothered you", they'll tell you about the death of a child that they had to deal with.

All the little devils are proud of their hell

Let the meek have the kingdom of heaven. The strong shall rule on earth.

Her hatred glittered irresistibly. I could see it, the jewel, it was sapphire, it was the cold lakes of Norway.

My mom was an environmental activist in Australia in the late '60s and '70s, and I guess I've inherited that awareness from her.

Wealth is a relative thing since those who have little and want less are richer than those who have much but want more.

If you intend to die, you can do anything.

I was always the biggest nerd in school: I had very few friends; I was always picked on; I used to wear really big glasses. I was the epitome of a nerd.

The place of justice is a hallowed place.

The man who lives without conflict, who lives with beauty and love, is not frightened of death because to love is to die.

God looks at the anxious and says, I tore my Son to shreds for you, and you're afraid I will not give you what you need?