
I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play
detective. —
James Ellroy

A check girl in peach-bloom Chinese pajamas came over to take my hat and disapprove of my clothes. She had eyes like strange sins. —
Raymond Chandler

Setting that little girl loose in her society would be like putting a fox in with the chickens. (Violet Strange's
detective boss.) —
Candida Martinelli

I should mortify a dozen Sir Johns if it might aid my investigation." - Elizabeth Bennet —
Debbie Cowens

I began to get really keen, for every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born
detective. —
John Buchan

Now the tea began to do its work- as it always did- and the world that only a few minutes previously had seemed so bleak started to seem less so. —
Alexander McCall Smith

Blackstone's Police Operational Handbook recommends the ABC of serious investigation: Assume nothing, Believe nothing, and Check everything. —
Ben Aaronovitch

Our job involves looking at things that people usually can't see. —
Fuminori Nakamura

I play a
detective, very close to myself actually. —
Jon Voight

I made 'True
Detective' like it was going to be the only thing I ever made for television. So put in everything and the kitchen sink. Everything. —
Nic Pizzolatto

Tailing someone is like maintaining a relationship: you keep at it until they give you the slip, or until they confirm everything you suspect them of. —
Mark Crutchfield

Rene Caron takes my breath away! —
Teresa Lynn

Ah! Madame, I reserve the explanations for the last chapter. —
Agatha Christie

Well, strap my ass to a flagpole and hoist it skyward' an all to familiar voice declared. —
Keri Arthur

I am a private
detective. I am paid to be inquisitive and presumptuous. —
Douglas Adams

From what I've read of
detective stories, inspectors always do want to drag the pond first. —
A.A. Milne

A show like 'True
Detective' is definitely a drama. —
John Wells

The cultured cop! I thought they were peculiar to
detective novels. —
P.D. James

In
detective stories virtue is always triumphant. They're the purest literature we have —
Dorothy L. Sayers

It was clear that in a past life the
detective had been a phone booth beside an empty highway. —
Amelia Gray

You have bigger balls than some men I know. —
Carolyn Arnold

Pigpen warned us that the
detective fucked you up." Eli says. —
Katie McGarry

The only two kinds of books could earn an American writer a living are cookbooks and
detective novels. —
Rex Stout

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy
detective or a rock star. —
Jill Sobule

You have a tendency, Hastings, to prefer the least likely. That, no doubt, is from reading too many
detective stories. —
Agatha Christie

There simply must be a corpse in a
detective novel,
and the deader the corpse the better. —
S. S. Van Dine

It is dangerous to engage in even the most innocuous-seeming discourse with the FBI/ Homeland Security/ a local
detective. —
Ingrid Newkirk
![Detective Quotes By Warren Ellis: [ ... ] a super-rat. I nailed it Detective Quotes By Warren Ellis: [ ... ] a super-rat. I nailed it](https://www.wisefamousquotes.com/images/detective-quotes-by-warren-ellis-385485.jpg)
[ ... ] a super-rat. I nailed it across the eyes once with a lucky shot with the butt of my gun, but it got up again and shat in my telephone. —
Warren Ellis

Chatty, defensive, observant. My new favorite witness. —
Rob Thomas

About Tommy, you went through your whole life craving these little pockets of time and missing them for more time than you had them. —
Lily Gardner

I should have known better than to take a job as an assistant to a psychic
detective. —
Jayne Ann Krentz

A
detective sees death in all the various forms at least five times a week. —
Evan Hunter

If only marriage licenses came with a buyer's remorse clause.
~
Detective Mike Malone —
D.B. Woodling

Mr. Snow.'
'
Detective Winter.'
'Do you give all of the men in your life a murder case for Christmas, or just the really special ones? —
C.S. Poe

In ordinary
detective novels you never see the consequences of what happens in a story in the next book. That you do in mine. —
Stieg Larsson

He was a
detective, but he didn't detect anything. It fell into his lap, already broken,
every time. —
Jodi Picoult

A conventional crime story is simple - it's just a corpse in the river or something, and a
detective with an alcohol problem. —
David Lagercrantz

The only way Magick ever has power is when its secrets are truly secret. Once too many people know how it works, then it doesn't work anymore. —
Abramelin Keldor

A bit unsporting, what?" he said. "Ought to ferret out the mystery before we go. Whole thing's like a
detective story. Positively thrilling. —
Anonymous

The
detective story is not about murder," P. D. James has written, "but the restoration of order. —
Anonymous

The best crime novels are not about how a
detective works on a case; they are about how a case works on a
detective. —
Michael Connelly

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

Moriston House is really quite beautiful. No wonder everyone wants to be murdered here.
--Roberta "Bobbie" Aldridge —
Jennifer A. Girardin

A woman could do a lot of crazy things for a pair of fine-looking dimples. —
Amy Andrews

And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it." -
Detective Sam Spade —
Dashiell Hammett
![Detective Quotes By Ralph Davis: [T]he historian and the detective have much in Detective Quotes By Ralph Davis: [T]he historian and the detective have much in](https://www.wisefamousquotes.com/images/detective-quotes-by-ralph-davis-49125.jpg)
[T]he historian and the
detective have much in common. —
Ralph Davis

He said her name like a
detective unmasking the face of the culprit he'd suspected all along. —
Allyse Near

Nothing in the television show 'True
Detective' was plagiarized. —
Nic Pizzolatto

As it is, we could not call mine a beautiful puss, but it does the job well enough, distinguishing the front of my head from the back. —
Sue Grafton

You don't rewrite it, censor it, or edit it, to suit some warped view you have of the past and your own present. —
V.T. Davy

I was so nervous that this was 'True
Detective' and that I needed to do a good job that I would just dig into every scene. —
Adria Arjona

Like a
detective keenly searching for clues, our daughters are solving the mystery of womanhood itself. —
Melia Keeton-Digby

The
detective had a kidnapping, he had a knife and he had blood. He had an insane old man. He was going in. —
Darin Gibby

In near panic, I craned my neck to gaze over the cabin's roofline a bursting fireball. —
Ed Lynskey

I'm not cut out to be a
detective on 'Law & Order' - I laugh too easily. —
Becki Newton

Sometimes a girl's gotta be bad to be good.
Murder in the Dog Park —
Jill Yesko

I love the French
detective series 'Spiral.' It's quite brutal to watch, but I'm already hooked. —
Robert Winston

I didn't do anything," Scott protested. "Breaking and entering is nothing?"
Detective Basso echoed. "Funny, the law disagrees. —
Becca Fitzpatrick

the emperor had chewed off his balls and stuffed a one-way ticket to the Black Sea up his rectum [Marcus Corvinus explains what happened to Ovid] —
David Wishart

The instant they say something you don't expect or already know, you should drop into
detective mode. —
Emmett Shear

Mental note when dealing with Mitch: he was a police
detective and he had ways of getting information therefore never let your guard down —
Kristen Ashley

Covert operations relied on the unguarded slip, the unconscious choosing of one word over another. —
Sara Sheridan

When I was growing up, my stepmother's sister was the chief
detective in one of the adjoining towns, so she piqued my interest in crime. —
Karin Slaughter

Men read either the novels it is possible to respect, or
detective stories. But their consumption of
detective stories is terrific. —
George Orwell

We could certainly use a
detective. And I've got to hand it to you, Nancy - you sure can keep your head. —
Carolyn Keene

Forward in time, the man named Konan didn't match my idea of a
detective. —
Natsuki Mamiya

I left a note for my mother. I always leave a note for my mother when I am on a case. —
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Chuckling to herself, Nancy said aloud, Romance and
detective work won't mix tonight! —
Carolyn Keene

Serpine: You have caused me so much trouble over the years
detective. It's almost a shame to end it
Skulduggery: You're surrendering? —
Derek Landy

The
detective and his criminal wear versions of the same mask. —
Jane Roberts

The
detective seemed to remember reading that advertisers used Scottish accents to suggest integrity and honesty. The —
Robert Galbraith