Quotes from Sara Sheridan

In crime books it's possible to chart forensic technology by how well it has to be explained to a reader. In mid-Victorian crime novels fingerprinting has to be explained because it's new. Nowadays it's part of our world and we can simply assume that knowledge if we write about it.

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

His heart is pounding and when he kisses her it is as if the whole of Riyadh disappears – the wide sky, the hard surface of the roof, the date palms and the water wells.

A chap's impending death has a way of focusing the mind.

When you want something badly enough it's amazing what you'll ignore.

A journey is an achievement, Maria, just as much as a mathematical proof.

The library is a symbol of freedom.

He finds himself bored by the shenanigans of highly spirited young men. Their concerns reside somewhere between balder and dash.

Once you're on the pleasure express, it's hard to get off and switch to another, slower service.

This investigation felt difficult, like driving in fog.

You can't trust anyone you have to pay, and really, they can't trust you.

I spend a lot of time imagining things - in fact, you could say that imagining things is my job.

When a chap is passionate, the readership can sense it.

I've always had a keen sense of history. My father was an antiques dealer and he used to bring home boxes full of treasures, and each item always had a tale attached.

That boy is talented. You don't develop those gifts in houses or in schools.

The hard fact is that writing is available to readers because of market factors as much as particular writing talent.

He prefers his adventures second hand.

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

Readership is highly dependent upon format and distribution as much as it is on content.

Digital distribution has widened the reading world.

We are in the middle of the biggest revolution in reading and writing since the advent of the Gutenberg press.

I am more one for the story, I think, than the action.

They march into the future to the rhythm of the past.

New technologies and resources offer exciting opportunities. They democratise access to information.