Quotes from George Pelecanos

Every young man's best purchase is his first car, which spells freedom. My first one was a '70 Camaro, springtime gold-over-saddle, a 307 with Hi-jackers and chrome reverse mags.

After college, I spent a decade working the kinds of jobs that I write about - bartender, shoe salesman, kitchen man - while voraciously reading novels.

Guys who feel like it makes you a man to make babies, they're completely misguided. It makes you a man to be a father. And I'm not moralising about marriage or anything. I understand that people split up, and marriages don't work out, and people do the best they can. But if you're going to not be there from the very beginning, then don't do it.

I'm proudly a crime writer, but it would be really inaccurate to call me a mystery writer.

There was a hole in Washington fiction, I felt, when I started out. Most D.C. novels were about politics or the federal city or people who lived in Georgetown or Chevy Chase - it was definitely a very narrow focus.

I get chills when I think that there's a statue of Phil Lynott on a street in Dublin, that people leave flowers by the statue. I love stuff like that.

There's a room in my house where my stereo, records, CDs, and books are housed. I spend a lot of time in that room, sitting in my chair beside the fireplace, reading and listening to music. Sometimes I just stand before the shelves and look at my books, because every single one of them means something to me.

I shoot occasionally, but I'm no gun expert.

Reading opens your mind and helps you understand and empathize with people who are unlike you and outside your breadth of experience.

There are a lot of bars and shoe stores in my early books.

I go to church for the cultural element. It's where you go to see Greek people once a week. It's real important to me, and I hope my children see they're part of something bigger than just this family.

Top-shelf fiction, a Crown Royal ride into the heart of Night and New York. Con Lehane's work is reminiscent of the best of Lawrence Block, which is to say that this is very good stuff, indeed.

I don't judge anyone of any stripe by what they read. Reading is always good for you. It's a positive act.

I'm proud to be a crime novelist. What I've chosen is the best way to convey the questions I'm trying to raise.

If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have anyone's words in my script but my own, but if you want complete autonomy, just stick to novels.

I'm a fast driver.

Is there a more violent book than the Bible?

My sons are black, and my daughter is Latina.

I'm a better writer now because I've worked very hard at getting better. My long-range goal will always be to write better books.