Latest Sue Grafton Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• 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.

  Sue Grafton

  Clever, Smart, Book

  Interview with Elise Cooper, crimespreemag.com. August 21, 2015.

• 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.

  Sue Grafton

  New Year, Couple, Book

  Interview with Elise Cooper, crimespreemag.com. August 21, 2015.

• 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.

  Sue Grafton

  Father, Book, Law

  Interview with Elise Cooper, crimespreemag.com. August 21, 2015.

• There was an author who titled his books by days of the weeks and another one that used colors. Then there was Edward Gorey who wrote the book The Gashlycrumb Tinies, about the untimely death of 26 Victorian children, each representing a letter of the alphabet. I thought what a great way to link the titles.

  Sue Grafton

  Children, Book, Color

  Interview with Elise Cooper, crimespreemag.com. August 21, 2015.

• I made the rules I figured I could be the one to break them. I thought I would write about xenophobia, a hatred of foreigners. After I stated writing the story there was not a foreigner to be had. I did not want to just stick one in there so I could get a title out of it since it seemed like cheating. I never figured out how I could get out of this dilemma so I just called it X and weaved X traits into the story.

  Sue Grafton

  Cheating, Xenophobia, Writing

  Interview with Elise Cooper, crimespreemag.com. August 21, 2015.