When the first book out my sister-in-law read it and we were chatting at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and she said, "Oh my God, chapter six, sex and a murder," and her five year old wandered into the kitchen and said, "Sixty hamburgers?

The good thing about the aristocracy – German or English – was that they were easily traced, Mirabelle thought.

Can I fetch you something, madam? A cup of tea?’In the old days she’d have been ‘miss’ and he’d have offered her a cocktail.

Crime writers, I've noticed, can be jumpy. They live in a world where there are murderers on the loose and they haven't been caught yet!

I like you in green,’ he said. ‘You look as if you’re a very beautiful imp.’


I remember calling the council's cemetery department to ask about body decomposition in different soil types. Once they had verified that I was a novelist and not a sicko, they were extremely helpful.

A chap wouldn’t hole up in Occupied France just to get away from his wife, Vesta.

Why, that means you’re just a … busybody. You could be anyone. You could be a journalist.’