“Women did not have as many options as men, and I need to reflect that ...” — Sharon Kay Penman Quote

“Women did not have as many options as men, and I need to reflect that reality in my mysteries.”

“I do not set specific work hours as some writers do. I generally stay with a chapter until I am satisfied, do very little rewriting, and if a scene is going well, I've been known to keep night owl hours.”

“Many people don't know that New Jersey is a fertile breeding ground for writers, some of them quite renowned. And I would wager that most would be truly startled to learn that the star in the Jersey firmament is - drum roll here - Newark.”

“I thought at first that I might write mysteries, but then I said, 'Mysteries have plots, and I'm not sure I can do that yet.'”

“For Philistines like me, the mysteries of Washington can be both perplexing and wondrous.”

“A lot of locked-room mysteries take time for you to pay attention and see the setup. They aren't thrillers, and they don't move along. The modern mystery story is really faster-paced, and I think modern readers tend to prefer seeing something happening on every other page.”