The great tragedy of Alzheimer's disease, and the reason why we dread it, is that it leaves us with no defence, not even against those who love us.

Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or so we might get a Middlemarch.

Unnatural death always provoked a peculiar unease, an uncomfortable realization that there were still some things that might not be susceptible to bureaucratic control.

Crime fiction confirms our belief, despite some evidence to the contrary, that we live in a rational, comprehensible, and moral universe.

gossip ... was like any other commodity in the marketplace. You received it only if you had something of value to give.

There are few couples as unhappy as those who are too proud to admit their unhappiness.

For me, the dead remain dead. If I couldn't believe that, I don't think I could go on living.