Confessions of a Criminal Mind
I’ve always written, since I discovered that I could use a pen and paper to make up poems (when you’re seven, any rhyme will do) and stories (the hamster and the stolen diamonds could’ve become a classic had I but known about the concept of a second draft).
Is it any wonder I became a newspaper journalist, sticking to facts and deadlines so tight I rarely got to explore the concept of a second draft?
Most reporter want to write a novel one day, lavishing time on crafting one immaculate sentence after another. Me too. Which is why, with impeccable timing, my first novel was partly written under my desk, while I typed away like a woman obsessed between earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Ten years later, I’ve published five historical cozies, one literary historical novel, which makes “Let Sleeping Murder Lie” my first contemporary cozy.
As a reader I’m polygamous, voracious and insatiable. I love historical fiction, mysteries, grittier crime, comedy, thriller, some fantasy and science-fiction … After moving half-way around the world twice, I still have the complete works of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout, Ngaio Marsh, plus Janet Evanovich, Dick Francis, Terry Pratchett, Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth Peters, Joan Hess, and a few more. On second thought, in about two-thirds of the books on my shelves, there usually is crime of some kind involved, although I leave the gritty versions to other writers.
Lately, my writing tends to feature a lot of dogs and the occasional owl. Maybe one day I’ll be able to use that thrilling scenario with the hamster and the stolen diamonds. Like every novelist, I store away ideas for the moment when they are ready to have their day on the page. Although I will definitely not subject the world to my youthful poetry.
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