Sara Paretsky

“The possibility of bringing white-collar criminals to justice is ever receding over the horizon.”

“I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likable female private investigator, and that's how VI came to life.”

“Sisters in Crime now has more than 4,000 members worldwide.”

“I wish I could remember where I put things. I spend half my life looking for my keys. With the other half I look for my glasses.”

“Around the time I turned 30, I wanted to publish a novel.”

“I'm a daydreamer.”

“I'm lucky in having found the perfect partner to spend my life with.”

“I went to college at the University of Kansas, where I got a degree in political science.”

“Sometimes I think I'm a one-trick pony because I'm not very inventive about new ways of telling stories.”

“The hardest thing about adolescence is that everything seems too big. There's no way to get context or perspective, ..... Pain and joy without limits. No one can live like that forever, so experience finally comes to our rescue. We come to know what we can endure, and also that nothing endures.”

“White-collar crime gets more outrageous by the second in America.”

“I spent 10 years as a marketing manager. I've found my experience in the financial world invaluable background for writing about white-collar crimes.”

“The crime novel has always been my favourite genre.”

“Reviewers said Ghost Country was rich, astonishing and affecting in the way it blended comedy, magic, and a gritty urban realism in a breathtaking ride along Chicago's mean streets.”

“I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming.”

“I grew up in conservative rural Kansas in the 1950s when it was expected that girls would not have a life outside the home, so educating them was a waste of time.”

“I'm very honoured that there is a loyal following and I hope it continues.”

“It took me nine months to write 60 pages. It was very frustrating.”

“Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.”

“My parents were liberal intellectuals but even they expected me to stay at home and look after my younger siblings and do the housework.”