'It had been my intent for the last couple of years to create a new character, not to replace Lincoln but to supplement him. Lincoln is a forensic scientist and every book he's involved with must have by definition forensic science, like DNA, clues, hair. Which is fine, but it's just one type of crime. I have dozens of ideas for stories that involve more the psychology of crime,' he says.

'Being rather calculating about it I decided to introduce the character in a Lincoln novel; it was very deliberate, to try it out and see the reader's reaction. I knew the book would have five million readers or so around the world,' he says.

The author of several international best-sellers and winner of the W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award for The Empty Chair in 2001 and the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Garden of Beasts in 2004, Deaver admits he's always writing with his readers in mind.

'I'm methodically geared towards what the audience wants to read. I'm diametrically opposed to a writer writing for themselves. When you do commercial work, it's not acceptable,' he says.

'I don't murder people, but I try to pick up as many sales as I can,' he adds, deadpan. 'It's a business and I think more authors should be that way. If you want your books to sell, you need to know your audience.'

This is why Dance is a woman and why there is a certain element of what he calls 'soap opera' in this new series. 'I wanted the new series to be centred around a female character because my audience is about 60 per cent female, and they've told me they love the more personal issues the character has to wrestle with,' he says.

'Of course you can't neglect your plot - the story comes first - but as long as you create conflicts and don't write happy dinner conversations, you can get away with some more personal things.'

Rhyme first appeared in The Bone Collector (1997) which was made into a film of the same name with Denzel Washington in the title role, 'although in my book, Rhyme is a white, educated, city type', Deaver says. The former head of NYPD forensics, Rhyme was left a quadriplegic by an accident on the job. Strapped to the bed in his New York flat and only able to move one finger, he hunts for clues with the help of female cop Amelia Sachs (played by Angelina Jolie in the film).

Well before the CSI series ruled television screens, Deaver pioneered the genre in his novels. 'As far as I know, I was the first to popularise the crime scene and forensic science to the extent that I have in my books. Of course, Sherlock Holmes did it as well, I didn't invent this, but certainly to the extent I'm writing about, I was the first,' Deaver says.

In many ways, his new character is the opposite of Rhyme. Dance has no interest in forensics, she lives on the west coast (where Deaver has a house) and she is a sociable person. Deaver decided to make her a young widow so he would be able to use a bit of romance in that series.

'I also wanted her to have a speciality that looked unique and that would allow her to have one-on-one [interactions] with people,' says Deaver.

In The Sleeping Doll, Dance is trying to get into the mind of Charles Pell, a criminal with a cult leader's power of persuasion that enables him to get other people to do his dirty deeds, thanks to his ability to surround himself with loners. Having escaped from prison, Pell is now on a new rampage and Dance must anticipate his next moves.

Deaver says he spent about eight months outlining the book, which included researching and reading up on mind control and cult mentality, as well as kinesics. 'My tack about research is that it has to be accurate and you've got to do a lot of it, but you should put relatively very little into the final book. Everything you put in should further the story and not be digressive.'

He reveals that his first draft is usually 150 to 200 pages longer than the final version: he 'throws out a lot of digressive material' because 'there's such a thing as too much material. My books should not be interesting, they should be compelling. They should move very quickly. If you load it down with research details, you slow the pace,' he says, adding that the actual writing process typically takes him two months.

Deaver is so happy with his readers' response to the Kathryn Dance character that he's already started outlining her next book, which will come out in 2009. 'I don't have a title yet and I don't like to talk about a new book so early on. The only thing I can say is that it will pick up not long after where we just left off. There are some unresolved issues that need to be discussed. You can't leave those hanging. They won't be the subject of the next book, but they will have to be dealt with at some stage,' he says.

Deaver says he enjoys working on a series like Rhyme, revisiting the same characters, as much as writing stand-alone books. 'It doesn't really make a difference to me. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. In a stand-alone, it's a bit more work, you have to create new characters, but with the series you have to be very consistent and you can't jeopardise your main character.'

Born in 1950 outside Chicago, Deaver studied for a journalism degree at the University of Missouri before working for a few years as a business journalist. He then decided to attend law school 'to be able to write about legal issues, because in America you really need a speciality to do well in journalism'.

He worked as a lawyer for several years, writing novels in his travel time, before finally deciding to become a full-time thriller writer.

'I always wanted to write. My journalistic career and my law career were really to make money to live on, and to be out in the real world because novelists are fascinated with people and meeting them, and you need to bring experience to your life before you can start writing about it,' he says.

The successful author admits people find him frustrating. 'They expect me to have a dark, ominous side to me and instead I'm actually quite sociable. I love to cook and entertain, I tell jokes and when I do my routine for a book reading, it's mainly a stand-up comedy routine about writing, which is intended to be funny, although I'm not sure it always is,' he says with a self-deprecating laugh.

For now, Deaver is in the final stretch of writing his eighth Lincoln Rhyme book, The Black and White Rainbow, which revolves around data mining and how a criminal mind can use all the information left behind by your credit-card spending to infiltrate your life, destroy it and even frame someone else for having done it. 'It's another typical cat-and-mouse chase, but there'll also be plenty of surprises.'

Writer's notes

Genre Crime thriller

Latest title The Sleeping Doll (2007)

Age 56

Born Glen Ellyn, outside Chicago

Lives Homes in North Carolina and California

Family Divorced, living with partner and eight Briard dogs

Next project The Black and White Rainbow

Previous titles A Maiden's Grave (1996), The Bone Collector (1997); Hell's Kitchen (2001), Garden of Beasts (2004)

What the papers say

'For everyday readers Deaver is a writer who has them turning the pages slavishly, while literary types are flabbergasted at the chutzpah of Deaver's plotting.'

- The Daily Telegraph

Author's bookshelf

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

'He's a true storyteller who's able to give you a sweaty-palm thriller when you know the outcome ahead of time. When I read this book, around the time of its initial release, I was struck by the way Forsyth was able to blend a well-honed style with a lean cat-and-mouse chase. It's a lovely trick to create a book in which you admire the ingenuity of both the hero and the villain. I try to do the same.'

The Collected Poems 1943-2004 by Richard Wilbur

'Poetry has always been an important influence, as I believe it should be for every writer. Those who write should strive to incorporate into their prose the lessons of poetry: economy, vivid imagery and the matching of style to form. Wilbur does this with such consistency and grace I am awed by how the images and the truths they reveal flow from the page into our souls. His poetry reminds me never to neglect the form of the story and that less is invariably more.'

A Perfect Spy by John le Carre

'While I try to craft what I call roller coasters, I equally enjoy reading more leisurely and nuanced stories. A transcendent novel, not for the weak of heart, but murder and mayhem aren't what leave us breathless. This book reinforces my belief that in thrillers, the crime is merely one layer of conflict and in fact personal relationships often resonate just as much, if not more, within our readers.'

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

'The unravelling of the crime at the centre of the book and the ensuing courtroom drama are as real as anything written today. For me the book stands as the cornerstone of naturalistic writing, a rejection of self-conscious and experimental fiction. It's the epitome of grey; black and white don't exist here.'

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

'A picaresque coming-of-age novel, the book bursts with Bellow's breathtaking, unmistakeable style. It's ... a heady stew of love, money, politics; and Bellow's beloved theme of the value of ideas. It's the greatest look at America since Huckleberry Finn.'