At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.

Your rat tail is all the fashion now. I prefer a bushy plume, carried straight up. You are Siamese and your ancestors lived in trees. Mine lived in palaces. It has been suggested to me that I am a bit of a snob. How true! I prefer to be.

It is wrong to be harsh with the New York critics, unless one admits in the same breath that it is a condition of their existence that they should write entertainingly about something which is rarely worth writing about at all.

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

She was the music heard faintly on the edge of sound.

When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.

Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.