I Invented The Historical Spy Novel.

You Can't Make Accommodations In Crucial Situations And Be Heroic.

I Don't Just Want My Books To Be About The '30s And '40s. I Want Them To Read As If They Had Been Written Then. I Think Of Them As '40s Novels, Written In The Conservative Narrative Past.

Good People Don't Spend Their Time Being Good. Good People Want To Spend Their Time Mowing The Lawn And Playing With The Dog. But Bad People Spend All Their Time Being Bad. It Is All They Think About.

It Takes Me Three Months Of Research And Nine Months Of Work To Produce A Book. When I Start Writing, I Do Two Pages A Day; If I'm Gonna Do 320, That's 160 Days.

The Printing Presses Of The State Treasuries Cranked Out Reams Of Paper Currency- Showing Wise Kinds And Blissful Martyrs- While Bankers Wept And Peasants Starved.