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All my novels have been published in hardcover, but hardcover editions are only available for about 12-18 months. The hardcovers are no longer printed after the publication of the paperback editions, but if you go to your local bookstore, they will order it for you, if it's still available through the publisher or distributor; that's what bookstores do. Or, go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. All my books are continuously available in paperback.

I tend to read dead authors, so if I like their books, I don't feel tempted or obligated to write to them. Which dead authors? Okay, mostly dead British authors - Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, Arthur Conan Doyle, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Eric Ambler, George Orwell, and others too numerous to mention. For dead Americans, I like Hemingway, Steinbeck, Cheever, Updike and Tom Wolfe.

I collaborated on a screenplay to Word of Honor. I don't think I'd write another screenplay based on one of my novels, or anyone's novel. For me, it's a difficult and unsatisfying writing process. But I might consider writing an original screenplay based on some ideas I have that would not be good books, but could be good movies.

There are three ways to do research: reading; interviewing people; going on location. Usually, I begin by reading about a subject until I have enough knowledge to interview people who are in that profession or occupation that I'm writing about - policemen, FBI agents, scientists, forensic people, and so on. Then I go to the locations where my novels are set, such as Moscow (The Charm School), St. Patrick's Cathedral (Cathedral), Ohio (Spencerville), and so forth. Some day, I'd like to set a novel in Tahiti.

From concept, to outline, to finished product, is about 18-24 months. This includes research, and two to four drafts, plus final editing and proofreading of the galley.