Two people in tune with one another. A man who understands a relationship is a partnership and not a competition.

Mysteries require a puzzle so unlike a lot of genres, a mystery writer has to trick her reader. The last thing you want to hear is that the reader figured out whodunit before your fictional sleuth does.

I think the first thing is you have to hook the reader from the first sentence. I recently started a book where the weather was described for nearly twenty pages. The writing was beautiful, even lyrical, but nothing happened. I had no reason to keep reading that book.

Next, you need to have characters that are believable. I have characters my readers love and ones they hate, but as long as they feel a strong emotion towards them, I know I'm making my characters real.

For me, plot comes third. Pacing is important. I like to end each chapter in a place that makes the reader anxious to turn the page.

Since my protagonist is also a school psych, my 18 years on the job has been crucial to getting the details right. It's also the perfect job to see humanity at its best, worst, and funniest. I like to think I transfer that to the pages of my books.

I don't really have one. I use Google for research.