SARA PARETSKY

You get weird and unsettling behaviour in the country.

Sisters in Crime now has more than 4,000 members worldwide.

My parents were liberal intellectuals but even they expected me to stay at home and look after my younger siblings and do the housework.

Capo, my first golden retriever, so loved to swim she once jumped off a cliff to get into Lake Superior.

I love to sing. I'm a soprano.

In 1986 we were trying to help women get in print, stay in print, and come to the attention of booksellers and libraries. At that time, books by men mystery writers were reviewed seven times as often as books by women.

It took me nine months to write 60 pages. It was very frustrating.

I'm a daydreamer.

Reviewers said Ghost Country was rich, astonishing and affecting in the way it blended comedy, magic, and a gritty urban realism in a breathtaking ride along Chicago's mean streets.

I grew up in conservative rural Kansas in the 1950s when it was expected that girls would not have a life outside the home, so educating them was a waste of time.

I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likable female private investigator, and that's how VI came to life.

I'm a grandmother, and a mighty proud one.

No agent wants to see a book until he or she has decided whether to pursue the relationship.

Most people don't have the money to spend on advertising to create awareness among readers, nor do they have the contacts at newspapers or magazines to get their books reviewed.

The possibility of bringing white-collar criminals to justice is ever receding over the horizon.

People have less privacy and are crammed together in cities, but in the wide open spaces they secretly keep tabs on each other a lot more.

Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.

The best source for finding an agent is called Literary Agents of North America. It's a complete list of agents, not only by name and address, but by type of book they represent and by what their submission criteria are.

I'm very honoured that there is a loyal following and I hope it continues.

White-collar crime gets more outrageous by the second in America.

I spent 10 years as a marketing manager. I've found my experience in the financial world invaluable background for writing about white-collar crimes.

Write what you care about.

Around the time I turned 30, I wanted to publish a novel.

I'm lucky in having found the perfect partner to spend my life with.

I went to college at the University of Kansas, where I got a degree in political science.