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.

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 a grandmother, and a mighty proud one.

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming.

Write what you care about.

I realised I’d never climb Everest but thought I could still write a book.

You get weird and unsettling behaviour in the country.

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

I live and die with the Chicago Cubs.

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

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

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.

I always wrote; my first story was published in the magazine The American Girl when I was 11.

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’m a daydreamer.

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.

The crime novel has always been my favourite genre.

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.

I had wanted to write Ghost Country for a long time, but it wouldn’t work.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Sometimes I think I’m a one-trick pony because I’m not very inventive about new ways of telling stories.

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

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

I wish I could remember where I put things. I spend half my life looking for my keys. With the other half I look for my glasses.

I love to sing. I’m a soprano.