Liz Williams Quotes

I always had a soft spot for Sherlock Holmes and used to imagine helping him out.

I like certain subgenres within science fiction and fantasy, and one of those is urban fantasy, and another is steampunk.

I liked lots of 'Doctor Who' books, but my favourite tale was a spooky story about two invalid children - who've never met in the real world - who get trapped in a shared dreamscape when they fall asleep. It's called 'Marianne Dreams' by Catherine Storr.

I wrote 'Knots and Crosses,' the first of the Rebus books, not even realising that I was writing crime fiction.

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

Cormoran Strike is an amazing creation and I can't wait for his next outing. Strike is so instantly compelling that it's hard to believe this is a debut novel. I hope there are plenty more Cormoran Strike adventures to come. A beautifully written debut novel introducing one of the most unique and compelling detectives I've come across in years.

Genre fiction, as Terry Pratchett has pointed out, is a stew. You take stuff out of the pot, you put stuff back. The stew bubbles on.

More than 100 years after he first appeared, Holmes remains the template for the fictional detective.

Most crime fiction plots are not ambitious enough for me. I want something really labyrinthine with clues and puzzles that will reward careful attention.

Eventually I would like to touch all the genres. I would like to do some detective stories, and I want to do a Western. I would want to do humorous Westerns.

Most of the books that feature supernatural characters blending with the modern world and are usually set in big cities.

I have never, ever, not once, met a writer who said he or she would never read a mystery or a story set in some imagined future.

I'd love to do a Columbo-type detective character in a series.

With the crime novels, it's delightful to have protagonists I can revisit in book after book. It's like having a fictitious family.

An editor named Kerrie Hughes wanted me to write a short story that brought my fire-spider Smudge from my goblin books into the present-day world. I came up with libriomancy as a way to make that happen.

Wexford started off as a very conventional, tough cop and not a very original character because I had no idea I was writing a series, of course. I had no idea I'd created a series character.

For me the Anita series is built like a mystery series, which means that as much as possible each book stands alone, so you have a mystery to solve from the beginning to the end of the book.

Fantastic fiction covers fantasy, horror and science fiction - and it doesn't get the attention it deserves from the literati.

I couldn't ever write a straight crime novel: there'd be an intrusion of weirdness at some point.

I have a low taste for urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

I adore Kate Atkinson, her literary as well as her crime output.

I loved Sherlock Holmes as a kid, but I remember being disappointed when he'd come up with these simple explanations for these complex mysteries.

I think it's pretty apparent who my favorites are because I keep coming back to them. At the top of that list would be Harry Bosch, who's now going on 20 years of literary life. I still like him the best because there's still a lot to say about him.

My entire career writing novels was wrapped up around Harry Bosch. This character was too important to me to just hand off.

I would love to write more about my hardboiled gumshoe on Mars, Alex Lomax.