"It is a pity he did not write in pencil. As you have no doubt frequently observed, the impression usually goes through -- a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage."
- Arthur Conan Doyle
"It seems that the Parisian Oulipo group has recently constructed a matrix of all possible murder-story situations and has found that there is still to be written a book in which the murderer is the re..."
- Umberto Eco
"Miss Climpson," said Lord Peter, "is a manifestation of the wasteful way in which this country is run. Look at electricity, Look at water-power. Look at the tides. Look at the sun. Millions of power u..."
- Dorothy L. Sayers
"Armed neutrality makes it much easier to detect hypocrisy."
- Criss Jami
"I sleuth, you know. For a hobby. Harmless outlet for natural inquisitiveness, don't you see, which might otherwise strike inward and produce introspection an' suicide. Very natural, healthy pursuit --..."
"Very strange things comes to our knowledge in families, miss; bless your heart, what you would think to be phenomenons, quite ... Aye, and even in gen-teel families, in high families, in great familie..."
- Charles Dickens
"Ionizing smoke detectors unnaturally raise the background radiation levels in the human environment."
- Steven Magee
"It has often been said that the more unusual the murder the easier it is to solve, but this is a theory I don't believe. Nothing is easy, nothing is simple, and you should think of your investigations..."
- Peter Ackroyd
"Generally he knew by instinct the likely length of an investigation, but on this occasion he did not: as he fought to get his breath he suddenly saw himself as others must see him, and he was struck b..."
"To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces."