I've written books for awhile, but always on a pretty small scale and always pretty self-indulgent. I chose projects that I thought would be really fun to work on and found friends to work on them with me, and it was all about the process.

There's something about the Pacific Northwest, the scale of it, and the fact that not so long ago people came here and died getting here, and then died the first winter they were here. There's this breathtaking beauty, just a little bit of moss on the tree, just this little thread of danger, and the sinister. And I really like that.

I was obsessed with Val McDermid's Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books, delightfully twisted stuff.

Somehow, having an office that I had to go to made me want to work from home, which is easier to do if you don't have a boss waiting for you at the office, even a very blue office.

I read a lot of 'Nancy Drew' books as a kid and considered myself a bit of an amateur detective.

I grew up in Washington State and then eventually found my way back to Iowa City for grad school.