Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up all over the place: five different states and two foreign countries. It has made my writing cosmopolitan, and I like to set my books in exotic foreign countries. THE SPIDER CATCHERS is set in Morocco, and my current work in progress, DEAD IN DUBAI, is set in Dubai. In many ways, my life has also made me a loner, and my heroine, Lee Carruthers, is also a loner. "I work alone," she always says.
When did you first start writing?
I've always read anything I could get my hands on, but I didn't begin to write fiction until I was in my early twenties. After I earned my PhD, I wrote nonfiction, but, since I retired, I have gone back to writing fiction.
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