How often does a lover of mystery fiction confront the criticism that her reading tastes are embarrassingly lite? That detective novels are entertaining but escapist, not really “literature”?

In addition to being an author, I am an architect, and the built world continues to awe, influence, and inspire me.

My teenage years were characterized by three activities: school, soccer, and reading.

“There’s no place like home,” Dorothy said. But Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.” Are both true? Is neither? I’m fascinated by home – the actual place and the people that embody it. I believe that home is like that parable about a river, how you can...

Em Kelton, the protagonist of my new BAD BOY BEAT, is a crime reporter with a nose for news – and a penchant for those on the wrong side of the law. This may prove useful when she suspects that a series of street-level killings are part of something larger. She’s too new to town to have covered some of Boston’s biggest crimes. However, these are certainly stories she would have loved to report on… or to solve!

The second installment of the Shona Sandison Investigations conjures a tale of forgotten crimes, the sinister rise of modern fascism in England, and the compromises and imperatives of journalism