Sue Grafton
Sue Grafton
Sue Taylor Graftonis a contemporary American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the 'alphabet series'featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she has said the strongest influence on her crime novels is author Ross Macdonald. Prior to success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 April 1940
CountryUnited States of America
I love being single. It's almost like being rich.
Ideas are easy. It's the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats.
If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.
A is for Alibi, my first book, was published in 1982. As it happened the next couple of books took place in June and August of that year. Without meaning to I painted myself into a corner. The other issue was the aging process. I did not want my main character to age one year for every book so I slowed the whole process down. This way I could get through all 26 letters of the alphabet without making her 109 years old in 2015. I might end the series in either 1990 or on New Years Eve 1989.
Dream big but think small.
People talk about dysfunctional families; I've never seen any other kind.
My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series I did a lot of studying before I wrote the first book. I learned police procedure, the California criminal law, and many areas outside my expertise.
No one with a happy childhood ever amounts to much in this world. They are so well adjusted, they never are driven to achieve anything.
The hard thing about death is that nothing ever changes. The hard thing about life is that nothing stays the same.
I read the paper every day. There are certain subjects that will catch my attention. I have an entire file of articles. Of course I make up the story, especially since most criminals are not very smart and fictional crime must be clever. I have to make sure the story I am telling is interesting and realistic. In this book I went on line and found out the manners of codes. I thought it interesting to use them as a jumping off point.
Writing is self-taught. Consulting other people only teaches you to depend on their reactions, which may or may not be legitimate. Quit looking for approval ... Learn to evaluate your own work with a dispassionate eye ... the lessons you acquire will be all the more valuable because you've mastered your craft from within.
To many women mistake a man's hostility for wit and his silence for depth.
I'm not sure Kinsey has changed in these first twelve books. I think the reader learns more about her, but from Kinsey's perspective, only three years have passed while the rest of us have been getting older at a much faster clip.
If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.