"The secret of contentment is never to allow yourself to want anything which reason tells you you haven't a chance of getting."
- P.D. James
"Right and wrong stood for him as immutable as the two poles. He had never wandered in that twilight country where the nuances of evil and good cast their perplexing shadows."
"SIR DANIEL was a large man, broad of shoulder...his eyes were rather small above the double pouches and the look they fixed on Dalgliesh gave nothing away. Looking at his bland, unrevealing face spark..."
"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life."
"Since even the most fastidious among us can rarely escape hearing salacious local gossip, it is as well to enjoy what cannot be avoided."