I have a strong moral sense - by my standards.

A Dickens character to me is a theatrical projection of a character. Not that it isn't real. It's real, but in that removed sense. But Sherlock Holmes is simply there. I would be astonished if I went to 221½ B Baker Street and didn't find him.

The only two kinds of books could earn an American writer a living are cookbooks and detective novels.

The brain can be hoodwinked but not the stomach.

I think the detective story is by far the best upholder of the democratic doctrine in literature. I mean, there couldn't have been detective stories until there were democracies, because the very foundation of the detective story is the thesis that if you're guilty you'll get it in the neck and if you're innocent you can't possibly be harmed. No matter who you are.

I think one or two of the later Holmes stories are among the best.

I don't answer questions containing two or more unsupported assumptions.