A: Oh no. She's much smarter, stronger, and more courageous than I am. We writers indulge our fantasies on the page, every bit as much as readers do.

Q: You have brought back, with integrity and more in-depth study, the much beloved Doyle character, Sherlock Holmes. What was it about this character that drew you to him, and inspired you to make him the central part of your wonderful novels?

A: I don't know that I was drawn to Holmes so much as to the idea of Holmes' mind in a female body. Much of what Holmes does is attributed to his genius at deductive reasoning, although much of it might, in a woman, be dismissed as mere "female intuition." I more or less transplanted his brain into a young, female, Twentieth century person. And of course, because two similar things are more interesting side by side, I put them together, and stood back to see what happened.

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone, past or present, who would it be, and why?

A: Holmes would be a bore as a social companion, but his brother Mycroft might be fun.

Q: Ms. King, have you ever had a 'watershed moment' in your life that propelled you to change direction?

A: Hundreds of them. Every day a person makes decisions that affect the rest of her life: leaving home after high school, choosing the highly impractical topic of religious studies to do a degree in, marrying an older man, picking up a pen and writing, "I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes..."

Q: You have a degree in Religious Studies and a Master's in theology and much of your novel writing harbors a deep sentimentality and spirituality. How important is your own spirituality in your personal life, and how much does it affect your characterization in writing?

A: In these days where the nation is sunk in an orgy of blatant religiosity, it is ever more difficult to talk about everyday theology. How does one describe God as a daily experience without sounding like a televangelist? When I figure that out, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I keep my spirituality to myself.

Q: Even though you are a native Californian, you have traveled extensively, including Jerusalem for your novel, Oh Jerusalem! How have travel and subsequent encounters with foreign cultures influenced your writing?

A: The setting for some of the books is more important than for others. THE MOOR, for example, sees Dartmoor as an actual character in the plot, THE GAME lives and breathes rural India, and LOCKED ROOMS could only take place in 1924 San Francisco. The choice of setting comes early, when a book is still being formed in my mind, and clearly, those choices could not be made if I had not been to the location involved. The only time I've written extensively about a place I haven't visited was the Vietnam section of KEEPING WATCH, and with that, images of the landscape were laid into my brain during years of the evening news as I was growing up.

Q: Besides writing, what are some of the other passions in your life?

A: Reading. Family. Friends. I have to choose carefully what I spend my limited time on, and have few hobbies that aren't also useful. I enjoy cooking, but then I have a family to feed every night, and I might as well have fun with it.

Q: Can you name a book or books that made an impact on you and if so, why?

A: The extraordinary and underappreciated novels of Peter Dickinson just leave me breathless, every time I read them again. Subtle, funny, moving, educated. If I could write like him, I would be a happy woman.

Interview Date: October 2005
Profile and questions compiled by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch Library