It's guff. It doesn't advance the action. It makes for nice fat books such as the American market thrives on, but it doesn't actually get you anywhere.

The Saab seethed off into the night. Arthur watched it go, as stunned as a man might be who, having believed himself to be totally blind for five years, suddenly discovers that he had merely been wearing too large a hat.

What was the self-sacrifice?" I jettisoned half of a much-loved and I think irreplaceable pair of shoes." Why was that self-sacrifice?" Because they were mine!" said Ford, crossly. I think we have different value systems." Well mine's better.

What I need... is a strong drink and a peer group.

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

If everyone knew exactly what I was going to say, then there would be no point in my saying it, would there?

The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.