I was working as a secretary in Manchester and thought I would always do that. Then I got this letter offering me a two-year fellowship where I could write; they would pay me a salary and give me a flat to live in. It was heaven. Sophie Hannah Read Quote
Agatha Christie’s writing is incredibly skillful because her books are incredibly intellectually puzzling and challenging. Sophie Hannah Read Quote
There are very few well-adjusted people in my books. But I do think that’s normal. Because everyone does have their issues and hang-ups. Sophie Hannah Read Quote
Agatha Christie never wrote books that just started with a dead body, and a ‘Let’s find out who the murderer is’, which is kind of mysterious but not that mysterious. She always started with, ‘How can this thing be happening; isn’t it strange?’ Sophie Hannah Read Quote
I know a lot of crime writers feel very underrated, like they’re not taken seriously, and they want to be just thought of as writers rather than ghettoised as crime writers, but I love being thought of firmly as a crime writer. Sophie Hannah Read Quote
I’m snobby about books that aren’t crime fiction: if I start reading a literary novel and there’s no mystery emerging in the first few pages, I’m like, ‘Gah, this obviously isn’t a proper book. Why would I want to carry on reading it?’ Sophie Hannah Read Quote
I never write about CIA conspiracies or the FBI or mafia or anything like that because I just don’t understand that world. But I think I do understand individual human harmfulness. Sophie Hannah Read Quote
