FAQs

Have you always been a writer?

No. My father was keen for me to be a scientist, so I studied science subjects when I came back to England to school. I didn't start to write until my children were in their teens. I saw an advertisement in Cosmopolitan for an Arvon novel-writing course and realised that that was what I wanted to do.

Why don't you write real novels instead of crime?

Since the 1980s some of the most exciting writing around has been by crime writers. I like the restraints of the genre: you have to come up with a strong story and interesting characters, not to mention a page-turning narrative.

Are all the places in your books real, or are some of them invented?

Most of the places are real. I have invented occasionally, sometimes because the real thing was in the wrong place, sometimes because I didn't want members of an actual college to be accused of theft, blackmail and murder. I am working on a map which will show where the stories happen, and I'll put the invented places on it as well as the real.

Do you write longhand or on a computer?

I write my notes in longhand in a notebook. Details of serial characters are in a card index file. But once I start to draft a book I work straight on to the computer.

Is Kate Ivory based on you, Veronica?

All my characters come out of my head, obviously, and I do like to get inside the mind of the murderers. (On second thoughts, 'like' isn't quite the right word.) I do some of the same things as Kate - like jogging, for instance - but she's much braver than me and rather more brittle. And my own tastes in music are, unlike hers, unrepentantly highbrow.