You know, writing a book means filling up pages with something happening, and it can't always be a murder. First I think of what kind of character I need. The characters do take on a kind of life of their own, and then you think of something you can add to make them more realistic and often more valuable to the plot. I walk about New York to look at the streets and buildings that I'm writing about, I read the gossip columns, and I formerly did public relations work for various charities, so I absorbed a lot of information that I put to use. It's not heavy-duty research, but as I noted, I try not to say anything really wrong.
Traffic has to travel in the right direction on one-way streets, stuff like that.
The Lady Margaret Priam series wittily dissects Manhattan society and various characters who are fixtures on the charity circuit. Most people don't know what I do, and I don't think they'd care if they did. I'm not sure they can read. Those guys have been able to muster a smile, but I think they're a bit wary. But the decorating business can be just as silly as I made it sound.