I told the caterer I'd work for nothing if he'd teach me about catering. I lasted one week full-time. It was exhausting.

I'm always astonished to see how badly people can behave when they think no one is noticing.

When I started to write culinary mysteries, I did it because nobody was doing it anymore.

In a mystery, the sleuth must be believably involved and emotionally invested in solving the crime.

I like cream cheese in just about anything.

After I outlined 'Catering to Nobody,' I went and worked for a caterer. And the other thing I had to do was to talk to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department about how they investigated a crime.

I wanted to be a literary writer, so I wrote story after story and sent them to 'The New Yorker.'

One thing that improved my cooking skills was being a poor student in California... If you don't have much money, you have to learn to cook.

What one's goal should be is just to become a better writer and to tell different kinds of stories.

Catering is extremely demanding financially and physically. It's a business.

Writing is work and cooking is relaxing.

I hate the moment in which come thoughts, it's the moment when I watch horror, when I enjoy something. A though comes, another and another... and I just don't know what to choose.

Your reputation is in the hands of others. That's what the reputation is. You can't control that. The only thing you can control is your character.

Other unsolved murders or untimely deaths were readily blamed on the supposedly sinister Jews: If a Jewish doctor failed to save a life, the whole Jewish community might be attacked and fined.

You know after any truly initiating experience that you are part of a much bigger whole. Life is not about you henceforward, but you are about life.

I'm not really worried about people's perception of what I do, or people's analysis of why I make the decisions I make. I wake up every day with a new interest and a desire for an education.

There aren't reasons why you like this song or this piece of music, or don't like it. It's just, it's either right or wrong, you know?

Don't get stressed over the little things and make sure you're enjoying life to the fullest.

Any photographed human being is always a photograph.

Can imagination act Perpendicular to fact? Can it be a kite that flies Till the Earth , umbrella-wise, Folds and drops away from sight?

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent.