Jon:  How would you describe your books to some one who hasn’t read them yet?

SJ:  The Bill Smith books: hard-boiled, dark. The Lydia Chin books: a little less hard-edged. Both: deeply involved with place, concerned with moral issues.

Jon:  The idea of switching the focus back and forth from Lydia and Bill is really a great one. What made you do that?

SJ:  Having invented Lydia at first as a sidekick for Bill, it occurred to me I'd worked really hard to create someone who thought very differently from him and I'd be wasting her if I didn't take the opportunity to find out what it was she was thinking.

Jon:  What made you want to write the first book?

SJ:  I was working as an architect (my first profession) and I had a great job. It truly was a great job; but I wasn't happy. When I started to wonder why, a little voice in my head reminded me I'd always wanted to be a writer, and what I'd always wanted to write was crime.

Jon:  In addition to being a writer, you are also an architect, what other jobs have you had?

SJ:  Janitor, jewelry sales, house painting, book sales, bread baking, advertising copywriter (VERY briefly), self-defense instructor.

Jon:  Have any of these other professions added your writing?

SJ:  All of them. It's all material. And the people you meet...

Jon:  What kind of research do you do? When I ran into you at Bouchercon you had just come back from shooting. That seems pretty hands on!

SJ:  I love research. I do as much as I can -- interviewing people; visiting factories, restaurant kitchens, sweatshops; walking streets; sitting in cafes; driving, reading, shooting. The more you know about a place or a world the better you can bring it alive.

Jon:  Have you had any television or Hollywood interest in the books?

SJ:  Some. They keep nibbling without biting, but we (my agent and I) keep tying flies.

Jon:  Do you ever run into road blocks when you write? Something that just doesn’t work? And what do you do about it?

SJ:  I never know it doesn't work until I've written it. I once wrote a scene in which Bill Smith went to talk to a guy. After two pages of talking the guy's dog came into the room and, I wrote, "...looked from one of us to the other, wagging his tail and waiting for something to happen." As soon as I read what I'd written I thought, me, too, dog. And that was the end of that scene -- straight to the garbage file. So no, I've never had a block, but I've produced some seriously useless junk. But that's the stuff that primes the pump so the useful stuff can come out later.

Jon:  I think your portrayal of New York is a key part of the books. And your feel for the city is wonderful. Are you a native?

SJ:  Born and brought up in the Bronx. I love this city and I especially want to show readers parts of it they don't usually see in books or movies -- the Bronx, Chinatown, Queens.

Jon:  What’s the coolest part of being a writer? How about downsides?

SJ:  There is, to me, no thrill like the thrill of writing something I know is working. The downside is, if it's not working, there's no one in the room with you whom you can turn to and share the problem with (or blame it on).

Jon:  What authors do you like to read?

SJ:  John LeCarre, Margaret Atwood, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, PD James, Kazuo Ishiguro, Don Winslow, Keith Snyder.

Jon:  Basketball. Better to watch or play?

SJ:  I have more fun playing, but I watch better than I play.

Jon:  What’s the best advice you were ever given?

SJ:  From Annie Dillard, THE WRITING LIFE: (Paraphrase): Never save anything for a better book or a better place in this book. Ideas bubble up from below like water in a well. If you don't take the ones off the top you don't get the next ones.

Jon:  This is a little of the path, but I want to know. What’s your favorite comic strip?

SJ:  I don't follow the comics anymore, but when I did it was Doonesbury.

Jon:  Where do the book titles come from?

SJ:  I always feel more comfortable with writing a book once it has a title. It helps to focus the theme. They come from all kinds of places; WINTER AND NIGHT is from a line in a William Blake poem (the Nurse's Song from "Songs of Experience") that's reproduced at the beginning of the book.

Jon:  If you could meet any one person from history, who would it be and why?

SJ:  I've been thinking hard about this and honestly, I can't come up with a single answer. There are all kinds of people I'd love to talk to about all kinds of things. I have a sense that if I were let loose in whatever time and place, I'd talk to regular people, not famous ones, about their daily lives

Jon:  What’s the one thing readers ask you the most? And what do you tell them?

SJ:  Your question #2, and I give them that answer.

Jon:  I see that you are the chair for the Shamus awards this year. Do you do a lot of these kind of extra-curricular mystery community things?

SJ:  Some. MWA and PWA really did help me out when I was getting started, and I feel like I should help the organizations now if I can.

Jon:  Do you get asked to write blurbs for other books often?

SJ:  Yes, and though I'm always flattered to be asked, I won't do it unless the book really rings my bell. If it doesn't it doesn't mean the book's bad, just that it's not my cup of tea.

Jon:  Any thoughts of doing a stand alone book? It seems to be all the rage these days.

SJ:  You caught me: I'm working on one right now. It's a very dark book, called, at least for now, ABSENT FRIENDS. A break from the series, not an end to it -- Smith and Chin will be back. Every now and then you need to clear your writing palate, as it were.

Jon:  Looking back on your previous books, have you written anything that caused an exceptional amount of feedback?

SJ:  No, but I'm expecting that from WINTER AND NIGHT, because it's about football, and you can't knock football in the US without hearing about it. Please note: I'm not down on football. I'm down on a certain type of adult and their approach to kids playing football. Okay?

Jon:  So tell the world SJ, is there anything about you that would surprise people?

SJ:  I doubt it. I'm really pretty straightforward. What you see is what's there.

Jon:  Who is easier to write, Bill or Lydia?

SJ:  Both the same. When I'm finishing a book in one voice, I can't wait to get to the other. His darkness can depress me and her optimism can be annoying.

Jon:  And.... What is the one thing always in your refrigerator?

SJ:  Milk. I drink an awful lot of tea while I write, and I like milk in my tea.