I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings.

As it is she will probably turn out to be one of these acid-faced virgins that sit behind little desks in public libraries and stamp dates in books.

I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.

A really good detective never gets married.

When a book, any sort of book, reaches a certain intensity of artistic performance, it becomes literature. That intensity may be a matter of style, situation, character, emotional tone, or idea, or half a dozen other things. It may also be a perfection of control over the movement of a story similar to the control a great pitcher has over the ball.

Love interest nearly always weakens a mystery because it introduces a type of suspense that is antagonistic to the detective's struggle to solve a problem.

A city with all the personality of a paper cup. (On Los Angeles)