Detective Quotes

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Quotes About Detective

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It was dawn by the time the detective showed up; tired and weary. Tired because he'd been called from his bed before dawn, weary because he'd spent his life looking at the bad side of human nature and that wasn't going to change. ~ Alan Furst
Detective quotes by Alan Furst
The bar was crowded with theorizing Sherlockians, who in the absence of any actual evidence had created grand machinations to explain the crime. Minor points of canonical disagreement became reasons for brutal murder. Some tried to piece together their theories in small groups, hoping that with enough brainpower and expertise they might arrive at a solution. Others jumped straight over the "investigation" phase and landed square at the end of the story they were creating, instantly accusing the man across the table of some vile treachery. And, moreover, actually employing phrases like "vile treachery" in doing so. Everyone was a suspect. But at the world's largest Sherlockian gathering, everyone was a detective as well. ~ Graham Moore
Detective quotes by Graham Moore
Kraunauer was waiting for me, standing next to the same young and serious agent who had brought us up. "I'm beginning to believe," Kraunauer said, "that Detective Anderson may not like you. ~ Jeff Lindsay
Detective quotes by Jeff Lindsay
you were attacked by cement monkeys? ~ Tom Cook
Detective quotes by Tom Cook
Why did so many teenagers fall for Stanley Horowitz's tricks?"
"These were impressionable teenagers," Nick explained. "Many of them were devoted fans of romantic Vampyre stories. They over-romanticized what it means to be a Vampyre, and that gave Stanley a way to manipulate them."
"I've read Twilight," Tamara said. "My daughter is a huge fan. Is she in any danger?"
"The danger arises from wanting to belong to the in crowd so badly, you lose sight of what's real and what's fantasy."
"Surely today's teenagers know that vampires are fantasy," Tamara said.
"Possibly. But remember, Vampyres are not romantic. Vampyres are dead. They are walking reminders of tragedy. Loving one is necrophilia. And wanting to be one is the first step on the road to catastrophe. ~ Abramelin Keldor
Detective quotes by Abramelin Keldor
The detective had been watching the video of Julie Mao's fight with her captors over and over again while they'd waited on Naomi and Amos to finish their work. It gave Holden the disquieting feeling that Miller was storing the footage in his head. Fuel for something he planned to do later. ~ James S.A. Corey
Detective quotes by James S.A. Corey
I began wanting to create a detective who really turned the tables on that image of women, to know that you could have a sex life and not be a bad person. You could have a sex life and still solve your own problems. It was eight years from when I started having the fantasy that I was going to create such a detective to when I actually sat down and came up with V. I. Warshawski. It was a long, slow journey to come to a writing voice and do that character. ~ Sara Paretsky
Detective quotes by Sara Paretsky
You cannot follow another's footsteps to the truth," Silette wrote. "A hand can point the way. But the hand is not the teaching. The finger that points the way is not the way. The mystery is a payless land, and each detective must cut her own trail through a cruel territory.
"Believe nothing. Question everything. Follow only the clues. ~ Sara Gran
Detective quotes by Sara Gran
Soon enough my mind hooked onto the missing guitars and the locked door and the hole filled up with clues and suspects and all the detective stuff and I could pretend it was just another case.
The guitars. The lock. The keys. The gun. The musician in the drawing room with the gun. The duchess in the kitchen with the guitar. I let my mind fill with the case. It was only a case. Only another case. Another sentence of words to arrange.
Maybe that was all there was to life. One long case, only you kept switching roles. Detective, witness, client, suspect. Then one day I'd be the victim instead of the detective or the client and it would all be over. Then I'd finally have a fucking day off. ~ Sara Gran
Detective quotes by Sara Gran
Sanchez got the phone call, listened carefully, glanced over at Spencer, in Whittaker's office, having his morning coffee. Hung up the phone, got up, went and knocked on the door, asked if he could see Spencer a moment, and lowering his voice said, "Carl downstairs just called me because someone wants to file a vagrancy report.
Spencer slapped him on the back. "Detective Sanchez, thank you for bringing the particulars of your job description to my attention. Well done. Go to it.
Sanchez hemmed and said, "The young woman says she is Lily Quinn. Specifically asked for me, Carl says.
Spencer didn't slap him on the back this time. He stared at Carl and then said, "All right smart-ass, go back to you desk.
"That's what I thought," said Sanchez. ~ Paullina Simons
Detective quotes by Paullina Simons
If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective. ~ David Herbert Donald
Detective quotes by David Herbert Donald
He resolved for Detective Geyer to undertake a careful and methodical search for the blunder which a criminal always makes between the inceptions and consummation of his crime. ~ J.D. Crighton
Detective quotes by J.D.  Crighton
I had many, many, many death threats. I couldn't open letters for a long time, because they all had to be opened by either the FBI or somebody. I couldn't open letters. I had to be escorted. In fact, just recently I went to a funeral, Calvin Wardlaw, who was the detective
the policeman
with me for two years, passed away just recently. He and I got to be bosom buddies really, but that was the hardest part. I wasn't able to enjoy
you know. ~ Hank Aaron
Detective quotes by Hank Aaron
I did not have an unlimited library to choose from on Robben Island. We had access to many unremembered mysteries and detective novels and all the works of Daphne du Maurier, but little more. ~ Nelson Mandela
Detective quotes by Nelson Mandela
I don't greatly care for passes this early in the morning. ~ Raymond Chandler
Detective quotes by Raymond Chandler
Because sometimes it's better to believe in the impossible. To believe you are a secret agent or a private detective or a superhero and not just a kid with freckled cheeks and gangly arms who is too clumsy to leap a tipped-over garbage can in a single bound.
Until you are lying in the middle of the sidewalk, with a throbbing ankle and bloody chin, wishing you hadn't even tried. ~ John David Anderson
Detective quotes by John David  Anderson
You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. ~ Raymond Chandler
Detective quotes by Raymond Chandler
She assumes," Wax said, "that our detective style isn't normally the punchy-punchy, stabby-stabby type." "To be fair," Wayne said, "it's usually a more shooty-shooty, whacky-whacky type. ~ Brandon Sanderson
Detective quotes by Brandon Sanderson
Reading a scientific article isn't the same as reading a detective story. We want to know from the start that the butler did it. ~ Ratnoff
Detective quotes by Ratnoff
If the detective should suffer overmuch from the artistic temperament, and his fellow lodger should dwell overlong upon the fairness of a wrist or the timber of a feminine voice, so much the better for us. Literature never produced a relationship more symbiotic nor a warmer and more timeless friendship. ~ Loren D. Estleman
Detective quotes by Loren D. Estleman
She stared at me "You have a message," she said. "On you machine."
I looked over at my answering machine. Sure enough, the light was blinking. The woman really was a detective.
"It's some girl," La Guerta said. "She sounds kind of sleepy and happy. You got a girlfriend, Dexter?" there was a strange hint of a challenge in her voice.
"You know how it is," I said. "Women today are so forward, and when you are as handsome as I am they absolutely fling themselves at your head." Perhaps an unfortunate choice of words; as I said it I couldn't help thinking of the woman's head flung at me not so long ago.
"Watch out," La Guerta said. "Sooner or later one of them will stick." I had no idea what she thought that meant, but it was a very unsettling image.
"I'm sure you're right," I said. "Until then, carpe diem."
"What?"
"It's Latin," I said. "It means, complain in the daylight. ~ Jeff Lindsay
Detective quotes by Jeff Lindsay
She's so obnoxious. Like a whole Saturday night drunk tank full of obnoxious packed into one little body. Detective Cavuto ~ Christopher Moore
Detective quotes by Christopher Moore
She was halfway through the revolving door when the thought hit her; she was the one who had seen Junior and Luther fighting before the banquet. She was the one had told Detective Sullivan. Overcome with guilt, she grabbed Ted's arm and faced him.
"It's because of me," she said. "Junior was arrested because of me! ~ Leslie Meier
Detective quotes by Leslie Meier
I guess us folks in California are kind of straitlaced and old-fashioned.
Hahaha, I thought on the way downstairs. I never thought I'd say those words with a straight face ... ~ J.R. Rain
Detective quotes by J.R. Rain
My motto? Don't trust someone who is just as cagey as yourself."
"What kind of detective are you?" "A lousy one and proud of it. I write, remember?"
She looked down at her hand & laughed. "Berretta doesn't make lighters." "Why I was a writer! My life revolved around fiction. I could make something up"
"She looked down at her hand & laughed. "Berretta doesn't make lighters."
"So they're not Tolstoy, they're a little shorter ... Okay, okay a lot. Go ahead, read my mystery series anyway."
"A detective has their boundaries especially me. So mine shifted occasionally ... okay a lot"
"Beat it, Buster. My temper and this mace have a hair trigger."
"Interference could be lethal." I got right up in his face, hissing, "Don't push me, I'm hormonal."
I'm not really a lousy detective, just rough around the edges. ~ Peggy A. Edelheit
Detective quotes by Peggy A. Edelheit
I didn't think - " Nick began.
"You didn't think! That's your problem, Nick, you just don't think!"
Nick struggled to respond.
"You're invulnerable," Elphaba continued. "You're immortal. You're ancient. Nothing fazes you. No situation is too dangerous for you. Chop off your hand, or your head, or pull your liver out and eat it with some fava beans, you don't care! In a few minutes you'll be right as rain."
Elphaba took a deep breath. "But the rest of us aren't like that, Nick. I only have the one liver, and I need it, thank you very much." Elphaba's diaphragm rapidly rose and fell. ~ Abramelin Keldor
Detective quotes by Abramelin Keldor
They say that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is 4 years. People can't do it longer than that because it's so difficult. ~ Mariska Hargitay
Detective quotes by Mariska Hargitay
The general public have a warped view of the speed at which an investigation proceeds. They like to imagine tense conversations going on behind the venetian blinds and unshaven, but ruggedly handsome, detectives working themselves with single-minded devotion into the bottle and marital breakdown. The truth is that at the end of the day, unless you've generated some sort of lead, you go home and get on with the important things in life - like drinking and sleeping, and if you're lucky, a relationship with the gender and sexual orientation of your choice. ~ Ben Aaronovitch
Detective quotes by Ben Aaronovitch
And I maintain, Detective Halse," said Inspector Fry doggedly, "that the civil unrest which allowing this message to remain in view would foment is against the principles of conscience and of British decency. Are you against the principles of British decency, Detective? ~ Lyndsay Faye
Detective quotes by Lyndsay Faye
Death by a blow or just by the fall?" asked Detective Zach, who was standing beside me at the accident site. "Do you have maybe an X-ray machine with you?" I replied angrily. "After all, I would be grateful if I could have your finding today," said Zach. ~ Scott Andrew Selby
Detective quotes by Scott Andrew Selby
Norm was lean, his short, straight black hair parted on the side, his mustache trimmed like he'd never heard of Adolf Hitler. ~ Jane Sunday
Detective quotes by Jane Sunday
A detective is only human. The less of a detective, the more human he is. Henry was not much of a detective, and his human ~ P.G. Wodehouse
Detective quotes by P.G. Wodehouse
But he couldn't feel self-pity in the face of the memorial. He hadn't lost nearly enough as these children, who'd lost their homeland and, in many cases,their whole families. Perhaps they had gained something, too, though. They had at least escaped the concentration camps, been taken in by good, caring families, and had grown up to live their lives in relative freedom. ~ Peter Robinson
Detective quotes by Peter Robinson
She was the only woman in the homicide unit, and already there had been problems between her and another detective, charges of sexual harassment, countercharges of unrelenting bitchiness. ~ Tess Gerritsen
Detective quotes by Tess Gerritsen
She and I are as far apart as the stars in the sky and the soles of my feet." Detective Sean Ryan ~Deception on Sable Hill by Shelley Gray ~ Shelley Gray
Detective quotes by Shelley Gray
Lady Sylvia McCordle: Mr Weissman
Tell us about the film you're going to make.
Morris Weissman: Oh, sure. It's called "Charlie Chan In London". It's a detective story.
Mabel Nesbitt: Set in London?
Morris Weissman: Well, not really. Most of it takes place at a shooting party in a country house. Sort of like this one, actually. Murder in the middle of the night, a lot of guests for the weekend, everyone's a suspect. You know, that sort of thing.
Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?
Morris Weissman: Oh, I couldn't tell you that. It would spoil it for you.
Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it. ~ Julian Fellowes
Detective quotes by Julian Fellowes
That's just where I must part company with you, Inspector," said the Vicar with a gentle smile. "I'm rather a voracious reader of mystery stories, and it's always struck me that the detective in fiction is inclined to underrate the value of intuition. ~ John Bude
Detective quotes by John Bude
Honey, I was a Detective with Homicide for ten years and before that I boosted cars for a living. Trust me, I not only can pick a lock, but I can do it with my eyes closed. The question is how the hell do you know how to pick a lock?" – Jase Devlin ~ Nina D'Angelo
Detective quotes by Nina D'Angelo
Don't follow someone into the dark, Stevie. I've seen it happen too many times. ~ Maureen Johnson
Detective quotes by Maureen Johnson
Believe no-one, doubt everything and remember, everyone lies". ~Prof. Nick Fennimore ~ A.D. Garrett
Detective quotes by A.D. Garrett
And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it." - Detective Sam Spade ~ Dashiell Hammett
Detective quotes by Dashiell Hammett
In 1850 Allan Pinkerton founded the first American private detective agency; in advertisements, the company motto, "We Never Sleep" was inscribed under a large, unblinking Masonic-like eye, which gave rise to the term "private eye".... William J. Burns was an avid user of a Dictograph- a primitive listening device that could be concealed in anything from a clock to a chandelier.... Just as Allan Pinkerton, in the nineteenth century was known as the eye, Burns, In the twentieth century had become "the ear". ~ David Grann
Detective quotes by David Grann
Nora was eating a piece of cold duck with one hand and working on a jig-saw puzzle with the other when I got home.
"I thought you'd gone to live with her," she said. "You used to be a detective: find me a brownish piece shaped something like a snail with a long neck."
"Piece of duck or puzzle? ... ~ Dashiell Hammett
Detective quotes by Dashiell Hammett
She might come in to bride-bed: and he laughed,
As one that wist not well of wise love's craft,
And bade all bridal things be as she would.
Yet of his gentleness he gat not good;
For clothed and covered with the nuptial dark
Soft like a bride came Brangwain to King Mark,
And to the queen came Tristram; and the night
Fled, and ere danger of detective light
From the king sleeping Brangwain slid away,
And where had lain her handmaid Iseult lay.
And the king waking saw beside his head
That face yet passion-coloured, amorous red
From lips not his, and all that strange hair shed
Across the tissued pillows, fold on fold,
Innumerable, incomparable, all gold,
To fire men's eyes with wonder, and with love
Men's hearts; so shone its flowering crown above
The brows enwound with that imperial wreath,
And framed with fragrant radiance round the face beneath.
And the king marvelled, seeing with sudden start
Her very glory, and said out of his heart;
"What have I done of good for God to bless
That all this he should give me, tress on tress,
All this great wealth and wondrous? Was it this
That in mine arms I had all night to kiss,
And mix with me this beauty? this that seems
More fair than heaven doth in some tired saint's dreams,
Being part of that same heaven? yea, more, for he,
Though loved of God so, yet but seems to see,
But to me sinful such g ~ Algernon Charles Swinburne
Detective quotes by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Detective Quinlan, I think I know who killed my sister."
...
"That's interesting. I was just coming back here to tell you the same thing... Emma. ~ Sara Shepard
Detective quotes by Sara Shepard
I'm Detective Piper of the Fairyland Metro Police, and I've been called in to investigate the incident of the missing frog prince ... ~ A.F. Stewart
Detective quotes by A.F. Stewart
Now, if either of you should think of something, you ring me up. And, Detective Farthering "-he shook his finger at Drew-" you and that young Dennison scamp mind you don't interfere with police business. Do all the clever thinking you want, and when you get an idea, I'll be happy to hear it. But you let the police do the investigating. Do I make myself clear?"
"Why, Inspector, I never - ~ Julianna Deering
Detective quotes by Julianna Deering
Every mystery novel I ever read, the great detective was such an arrogant fuck you could replace 70% of his dialogue with 'Are you stupid?' and the conversation would still make sense. ~ NisiOisiN
Detective quotes by NisiOisiN
It's very good of you
"
"No, no, not at all. It's my hobby. Not proposing to people, I don't mean, but investigating things. Well, cheer-frightfully-ho and all that. And I'll call again, if I may."
"I will give the footman orders to admit you," said the prisoner, gravely, "you will always find me at home. ~ Dorothy L. Sayers
Detective quotes by Dorothy L. Sayers
[True Detective] is an intense show, even in terms of the dialogue - there's a little rhythm to it, in particular in his monologues. I think on those days, he [Woody Harrelson] really had to stay in the zone. Because there's a certain cadence in which that character speaks and talks about life, you know? But then there are other days that he was able to be a little more loose. ~ Michelle Monaghan
Detective quotes by Michelle Monaghan
I'm more worried about being dead than lost, Detective. ~ Brian M. Holmes
Detective quotes by Brian M. Holmes
[T]he historian and the detective have much in common. ~ Ralph Davis
Detective quotes by Ralph Davis
You'll stay in the surveillance vehicle and assist McNab. Any arguments from you, Detective?" she said, looking at McNab.
"No. No, sir, Lieutenant." He patted Peabody on the back. "You okay, honey?"
"No honeys!" Eve pulled at her hair. "There are no honeys on an op, for sweet Christ's sake. Keep it up, just keep it up, and I'm having one of you transferred to Queens. ~ J.D. Robb
Detective quotes by J.D. Robb
When you don't know what to believe, when you're not prepared to play the amateur detective, then you get tired and dismiss the entire business, you let it go, you stop thinking and wash your hands of the truth or of the whole tangled mess - which comes to the same thing. The truth is never clear, it's always a tangled mess. Even when you get to the bottom of it. But in real life almost no one needs to find the truth or devote himself to investigating anything, that only happens in puerile novels. ~ Javier Marias
Detective quotes by Javier Marias
I definitely have an affection for detective fiction, and when I first read Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon,' that book and its author made an enormous impression on me as a reader and a writer, and led me to other hard-boiled American writers like Raymond Chandler and Ross McDonald, among many. ~ Avi
Detective quotes by Avi
Do you mean to tell me, Superintendent, that this is one of those damned cases you get in detective stories where a man is killed in a locked room by some apparently supernatural agency. ~ Agatha Christie
Detective quotes by Agatha Christie
As we blossom or awaken, we begin to notice there is a force in the world that seems to be operating and leading us into a certain destiny. And it's very much a kind of detective effort on our own part to figure out what these things mean. The synchronicity is essentially a meaningful coincidence that brings us information at just the right time. While leading us forward, it also feels very inspiring and destined in a way. It feels like we're on a path of unfolding in our own personal evolution. ~ James Redfield
Detective quotes by James Redfield
When a beautiful blonde asks, you don't say no. ~ V.T. Davy
Detective quotes by V.T. Davy
Do you know what sort of trouble you are courting?"
"Courting?" I gave him a scornful look. "I married it long ago. As our favorite detective, Arcadia Brown, would say to her faithful Garvin, 'Excelsior! ~ Deanna Raybourn
Detective quotes by Deanna Raybourn
He said her name like a detective unmasking the face of the culprit he'd suspected all along. ~ Allyse Near
Detective quotes by Allyse Near
At the small table, sitting very upright, was one of the ugliest old ladies he had ever seen. It was an ugliness of distinction - it fascinated rather than repelled. ~ Agatha Christie
Detective quotes by Agatha Christie
Skulduggery: The fate of the world may depend on whether or not you can bring yourself to visit your relatives
Stephanie: It may depend
Skulduggery: Valkyrie--
Stephanie: Fine I'll go -
Skulduggery: Being a detective isn't all about torture and murder and monster. Sometimes it gets truly unpleasant. ~ Derek Landy
Detective quotes by Derek Landy
What about Ding-Dong?"

"Detective Inspector Bell couldn't find his arse with both hands if you duct-taped them to it. Come on. ~ Stuart MacBride
Detective quotes by Stuart MacBride
I could have just said I'm good at my job, but I didn't. Didn't want the police thinking I was holding out information when I wasn't. I've got one advantage over a normal homicide detective, I expect it to be a monster. No one ever calls me in if it's just a stabbing, or a hit-and-run. I don't spend a lot of time trying to come up with nice, normal explanations. It means I get to ignore a lot of theories. ~ Laurell K. Hamilton
Detective quotes by Laurell K. Hamilton
Dude, want to give me a little room here?" "No. I like being close to you." Detective Johnson ran one long finger slowly down Day's chest. "Well fuckin' unlike it." They both jumped at the sound of God's gruff voice. God ~ A.E. Via
Detective quotes by A.E. Via
To me, detective stories are a great solace, a sort of mental knitting, where it doesn't matter if you drop a stitch."

[From a letter to George Lyttelton] ~ Rupert Hart-Davis
Detective quotes by Rupert Hart-Davis
When you are getting on in years it is nice to sit by the fire and drink a cup of tea and listen to the school bell sounding dinner, call-over, prep., and lights out. Chips always wound up the clock after that last bell; then he put the wire guard in front of the fire, turned out the gas, and carried a detective novel to bed. Rarely did he read more than a page of it before sleep came swiftly and peacefully, more like a mystic intensifying of perception than any changeful entrance into another world. For his days and nights were equally full of dreaming. ~ James Hilton
Detective quotes by James Hilton
I know what kind of things I myself have been irritated by in detective stories. They are often about one or two persons, but they don't describe anything in the society outside. ~ Stieg Larsson
Detective quotes by Stieg Larsson
Maybe one sad detective pulling a nuclear weapon on a wagon would slip through their defenses. ~ James S.A. Corey
Detective quotes by James S.A. Corey
Not every oak has to be gnarled, every detective hard-bitten. The adjective that exists solely as a decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer and an obstacle for the reader. ~ William Zinsser
Detective quotes by William Zinsser
That's justice," she said, nodding at the statue. "She doesn't hear you. She doesn't see you. She can't feel you and won't speak to you. Justice, Detective Bosch, is just a concrete blonde. ~ Michael Connelly
Detective quotes by Michael Connelly
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy detective or a rock star. ~ Jill Sobule
Detective quotes by Jill Sobule
It is to be feared that about a hundred detective stories have begun with the discovery that an American millionaire has been murdered; an event which is, for some reason, treated as a sort of calamity. ~ G.K. Chesterton
Detective quotes by G.K. Chesterton
She has carefully audited her life and found she has no requirement for a husband. ~ Helen Smith
Detective quotes by Helen Smith
I hate unbreakable alibis--they are usually the first to crack.
--Hugo Anstead ~ Jennifer A. Girardin
Detective quotes by Jennifer A. Girardin
She walks into my life legs first, a long drink of water in the desert of my thirties. Her shoes are red; her eyes are green. She's an Italian flag in occupied territory, and I fall for her like Paris. She mixes my metaphors like a martini and serves up my heart tartare. They all do. Every time. They have to. It's that kind of story. ~ Catherynne M Valente
Detective quotes by Catherynne M Valente
Atticus killed several birds with one stone when he read to his children, and would probably have caused a child psychologist considerable dismay: he read to Jem and Jean Louise whatever he happened to be reading, and the children grew up possessed of an obscure erudition. They cut their back teeth on military history, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, True Detective Mysteries, The Code of Alabama, the Bible, and Palgrave's Golden Treasury. ~ Harper Lee
Detective quotes by Harper Lee
What description of clouds and sunsets was to the old novelist, description of scientific apparatus and methods is to the modern Scientific Detective writer. ~ Hugo Gernsback
Detective quotes by Hugo Gernsback
Anything is easy to the man who sees ... The open eye of the open mind
that has more to do with real detective work than all the deduction and induction and analysis ever devised. ~ Samuel Hopkins Adams
Detective quotes by Samuel Hopkins Adams
The cultured cop! I thought they were peculiar to detective novels. ~ P.D. James
Detective quotes by P.D. James
1. The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to know.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
7. The detective himself must not commit the crime.
8. The detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover.
9. The "sidekick" of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any thoughts which pass through his mind: his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them. ~ Ronald Knox
Detective quotes by Ronald Knox
Nick laughed and pet the Wangdoodle on the head. "Esperto, you silly boy," he said to the Wangdoodle. "Usually, Esperto only transforms when I'm in danger," Nick said to Elphaba. "But whenever he's around Dymons, he loves to play along. Their transformations are to Esperto what a ball of yarn is to a kitten." Esperto gave out a strange squeaking growl, which Elphaba figured was the Wangdoodle version of a purr.
"What the hell is a Wangdoodle?" Elphaba whispered.
"I haven't a clue," Nick laughed. ~ Abramelin Keldor
Detective quotes by Abramelin Keldor
I've always wanted to take a swim wherever it is they snap those screensaver photos - Fiji? Bora Bora? The Maldives? - and sleep in a hotel room that's more of a hut built on a dock over the water. After reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, I'm dying to see the sun set in Botswana. I want to visit Indian temples and volunteer at an elephant sanctuary. ~ Jen Lancaster
Detective quotes by Jen Lancaster
Walking out into the night with a water fey was all kinds of stupid. Heck, Kelpies eat people. They may not play with their food as creatively as the Each Uisge, but dead is dead. ~ E.J. Stevens
Detective quotes by E.J. Stevens
Ah, that poor boy was unlucky. Perhaps his trainer or doctor had told him to take some spicy food for fast blood circulation. That's why he had come here for Korean Tofu Soup – which is very spicy. Because of jogging, his heart was already beating fast, which means fast blood circulation. To make the matter worse, the hot and spicy soup, combined with witnessing some hot action, meant that his blood wasn't running, but boiling. He was clinging to the wall trembling. If they hadn't killed him, he would've died on the spot anyway. ~ Waheed Ibne Musa
Detective quotes by Waheed Ibne Musa
I was looking for a way to be someone else,'I said. ~ Scott Frost
Detective quotes by Scott Frost
See, Curry, Detective Willis felt I was holding back some information and so he sulked off, like all men do when they don't get their way with women they've fooled around with. ~ Gillian Flynn
Detective quotes by Gillian Flynn
Have you read Gaboriau's works?" I asked.
"Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?"
Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq
was a miserable bungler," he said, in an angry
voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty four hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for detectives to teach them what to avoid. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Detective quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Detective fiction could not have existed without Edgar Allan Poe. ~ Giles Foden
Detective quotes by Giles Foden
Clearing her throat, Peabody turned the cube on record. I owe Dallas, Lieutenant Meaniepants Eve, twenty dollars to be paid out of my hard-earned, under-appreciated detective's salary next payday. Peabody, Detective Churchmouse Delia. ~ J.D. Robb
Detective quotes by J.D. Robb
Ain't no Jesus in Snowtown, Detective. ~ Warren Ellis
Detective quotes by Warren Ellis
That's our cue," Dr. Chadwick noted, managing to approximate a cheerful smile, addressing the room at large. "Everyone please stand behind the yellow line until the doors open. No food, drink, flash photography, or video cameras are permitted. Once aboard the ride, please keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times until we come to a full and complete stop. Otherwise, they're apt to end up in another universe somewhere without ya, and wouldn't that fry your noggin? ~ Stephanie Osborn
Detective quotes by Stephanie Osborn
...you cannot enter into an investigation with a philosophy that dictates the outcome. Objectivity is paramount; this is the first principle of detective work that each of us must learn. It sounds simple, but our presuppositions are sometimes hidden in a way that makes them hard to uncover and recognize. ~ J Warner Wallace
Detective quotes by J Warner Wallace
Some lines you just don't cross. Not in my business."
"Your business?" Georgia rolled her eyes. "You mean the private detective business? I wasn't aware you guys had such ironclad rules about making out with clients." She ignored the choking sound he made. "Seriously, have you even seen The Maltese Falcon?"
Darius' face heated. "This isn't some movie, Ms. Clare. You're not Mary Astor, and I'm sure as hell no Humphrey Bogart. Here in the real world, there are rules. ~ Laura Oliva
Detective quotes by Laura Oliva
We would never call inexplicable little insights 'hunches,' for fear of drawing the universe's attention. But they happened, and you knew you had been in the proximity of one that had come through if you saw a detective kiss his or her fingers and touch his or her chest where a pendant to Warsha, patron saint of inexplicable inspirations, would, theoretically, hang. ~ China Mieville
Detective quotes by China Mieville
A good detective not only has to be intelligent, persevering and prepared to do enless boring routine work, he also needs one other quality: Intuition. I see it rather as the ability to make connections which are there but are not immediately apparent. Subterranean connections. ~ Dorothy Simpson
Detective quotes by Dorothy Simpson
Yet historians still start their books with a ritual lament about 'the sources' and their inadequacy. The lament is not entirely insincere (though it is something of a self-constructed problem): the sources often are inadequate for the particular questions that historians choose to pose. But that is part of the ancient-historical game: first pick your question, then demonstrate the appalling difficulty of finding an answer given the paucity of the evidence, finally triumph over that difficulty by scholarly 'skill'. Prestige in this business goes to those who outwit their sources, prising unexpected answers from unexpected places, and who play the clever (sometimes too clever) detective against an apparent conspiracy of ancient silence. ~ Mary Beard
Detective quotes by Mary Beard
Bosh. I find a rival - but no, I won't flatter myself that Tecumseh Fox would consider himself a rival of Dol Bonner - I find an eminent detective in your apartment, and that alone is enough, without adding that he is concealed in your bedroom while I am discussing my business with you ... ~ Rex Stout
Detective quotes by Rex Stout
The old detective story that's got a really complicated motive doesn't apply to mine. ~ Ruth Rendell
Detective quotes by Ruth Rendell
One key to the distinction between mystery and suspense writing involves the relative positions of hero and reader. In the ideal mystery novel, the readers is two steps behind the detective ... The ideal suspense reader, on the other hand, is two steps ahead of the hero. ~ Carolyn Wheat
Detective quotes by Carolyn Wheat
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