She grinned at me. 'You got types?' 'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.

...What disturbed him was the discovery that in sensibly ordering his affairs he had got out of step, and not into step, with Life.

I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.

I like women. I really like women.

What I try to do is write a story about a detective rather than a detective story. Keeping the reader fooled until the last, possible moment is a good trick and I usually try to play it, but I can't attach more than secondary importance to it. The puzzle isn't so interesting to me as the behavior of the detective attacking it.

The face she made at me was probably meant for a smile. Whatever it was, it beat me. I was afraid she'd do it again, so I surrendered

Nick: "Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep?" Nora: "No, thanks." Nick: "Maybe it would if I took one.