My grandparents were all born in the U.S., but their parents came from Ireland.

I not only read Raymond Chandler but read all the crime fiction classics. I was hooked.

I got lucky, and the first book, 'The Black Echo,' got published.

Artists are supposed to stay hungry.

As soon as I got to L.A., there was this big crime where these guys tunnelled underneath a bank on a three-day weekend and went right up to the vault and emptied everything out.

When I lived in L.A. full time, I moved often - fourteen different neighbourhoods in sixteen years.

I have high hopes for Renee Ballard's literary life, and it can't start out better than the top of 'USA TODAY''s best-seller list.

When I went home at 20 to tell my parents, 'I don't want to be an engineer, I want to try and write books,' I was braced for, 'That's not gonna happen.' But I didn't get that response, and maybe it was because of my dad's experience of having an artistic dream and having to put it aside.

The LAPD, like most police departments, is a male-dominated bureaucracy. A woman faces a lot of pushback.

The fulfillment I get from a good day of writing is addictive and will always bring me back the next day.

I first discovered Tampa in my 20s when I met my wife, who was living there, and I instantly fell in love with the city. It's somewhere between a big city and small town, so you get the feeling of both.

There are nineteen Harry Bosch books, and someone told me if you add up the descriptions of Harry from all of them, it would come to less than three pages. He's very elliptically described over the two decades during which the novels occur. I did that by intention.

That's the irony in the work: the best stories are the worst things that happen. My best times were somebody else's worst.

My whole reputation and creative thought as a novelist is really wrapped around Harry Bosch, so he's near and dear.

We're all seeking order. We're all seeking control.

When I was at a newspaper, I knew what an opportunity that was, and I religiously protected my time on the cop beat.

Every time I visit Brisbane, I think, 'This is my childhood.'

I want to tell stories that reflect how people are feeling.

I think there's a general misconception that anything written quickly lacks quality, and I don't believe that.

I mostly read on airplanes and right before sleep.

As a reporter, you develop an ear for dialogue because it's your job to capture it accurately.

I get into this unfortunate thing when I'm touring for my books. I was in Spain, and the media asked me, 'Who's your favorite Spanish mystery writer?' I'm totally flat-footed. I feel that I'm under-read when it comes to foreign writers.

The criminal defense attorney is misunderstood if not despised by most of society. It doesn't matter if we believe in our adversarial system and the ideal that everyone charged with a crime is entitled to a vigorous defense. Ideals give away to reality - defense lawyers working loopholes and angles to get their clients off.

I watched 'Kojak' religiously with my father. It was a great bonding time. He loved shows where the stakes were high. Life and death, justice prevailing, things like that. I think that helped set me on the path to what I do now.