S Rozan - Trail of Blood

Who are your favourite crime novelists?

I never answer this question as it regards living writers because I always leave people out and then I feel bad. As far as my predecessors, Dorothy Sayers (especially for plot), Agatha Christie (for motive) and Raymond Chandler (for gorgeous prose).

Which classic novel have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

War and Peace. Isn’t that disgraceful?

What are your top five books of all time?

I’m not sure what “top five” means. These may not be the greatest books ever written, but they knocked my socks off:

The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)

Yiddish Policeman’s Union (Michael Chabon)

Idoru (William Gibson)

A Perfect Spy (John LeCarre)

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)

What book are you currently reading?

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (Jack Weatherford). I’m a geek.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write? A favourite place?

Morning, about 8-12. In my apartment at my desk, but I’m flexible.

Which fictional character would you most like to meet?

Oh, boy. This could change every five minutes, but I’d have to say Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings.

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

No way I can answer this. William Shakespeare? Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei? The stunningly poetic translator of the King James Bible? I don’t think, at that level, there’s a pinnacle. Just a wide, rarefied mesa.

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished a new Bill Smith, a thriller in form (something new for me) and am about to start a new Lydia Chin about the Chinese art market.

And finally, what does S.J. stand for…?

Shira Judith. But I don’t use them. Everyone calls me S.J.

S.J. Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx and is a long-time Manhattan resident. An architect for many years, she is now a full-time writer. Her critically acclaimed, award-winning novels and stories have won most of crime fiction’s greatest honours, including the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Macavity and the Nero Award.