Karin Slaughter

“I read about violent things. I think what I get out of that is entertainment by learning about different things, and reading the genre and getting an understanding of motivations. But at the end of the day, it's still a book, and I can walk away.”

“Southerners have this love of embellishment. Even when you read a police report, there's some backstory.”

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

“I love twins stories.”

“I'm extremely introverted. I used to think it was shyness, but I got over that, so it must be door No. 2. It's still hard for me to be away from home much, and I have to make sure I get lots of time alone in my room when I'm touring.”

“There's a tendency among some male writers to make the women in their stories weak and needing of rescue so that their hero looks like a manly man.”

“We make assumptions: nurses should be nice, teachers should be good. But everyone has a dark side, some darker than others.”

“No matter where you are on the political spectrum, libraries make sense. It's such a small investment. Every dollar supporting a library system returns five dollars to the community.”

“I know the cadence of the language and the voice of Atlanta because I've lived here for so long.”

“Men are more particular, and they're not going to grab something with a bodice-ripper cover on it.”

“Usually, when inspiration strikes late, the light of day reveals that I haven't gotten an idea for a book so much as a psychiatric case study.”

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

“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.”

“Good writers know that crime is an entre into telling a greater story about character. Good crime writing holds up a mirror to the readers and reflects in a darker light the world in which they live.”

“Flannery O'Connor was a revelation for me. When I read her, I was very young, and I didn't understand what she was doing. I didn't see any of the Catholicism or any of the social stuff.”

“Prosecutors and public defenders deserve to make a living wage.”

“My books are never about the crimes. They are about how the characters react to the crimes.”

“Good crime writing holds up a mirror to the readers and reflects in a darker light the world in which they live.”

“'Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Case,' 'The Secret of the Old Clock,' 'Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret,' 'Flowers in the Attic,' 'Gone With the Wind' - these are the books that defined my childhood. They thrilled me. They made me feel like I wasn't alone in the world.”

“Being a Southerner, I'm interested in sex, violence, religion and all the things that make life interesting.”