Noir Mystery Quotes

“I don’t like anything pointing at me, dollface, that includes an umbrella, a finger, or a gun, got it?”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“Jamie’s eyes gleamed. “God forgive me, I want there to be a murderer after the Falconer family so we in the College feel less to blame.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“  Mary fought a savage impulse to slam the door on the couple. But they were too interesting to ignore in the circumstances of the murder. She caught sight of Richard spitting out a mouthful of hair.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“He says it was tourists being careless, where I see a fiendishly clever murder attempt.”
“Mr. McCarthy, you’d better explain.”
“Patrick, please. You’ll be tempted to laugh. It was a banana skin.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“George’s utterance of the nest and the trap belonged to a bigger mystery she did not yet understand. One day I will, she promised herself. She would stake her life that those last words from her son would be solved by her. They were steppingstones into… whatever the wind and the stars and the valiant trees held for her.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“Unbelievable and true. Anna Solokov is neither a frightened girl nor a criminal spider in the center of a huge web of drugs and god knows. No, that dangerous young woman could easily do both at different times, and to different people. No doubt that is part of George’s attraction to her. She is victim. Yet when necessary, or when it suits her, she is victimizer. Does he imagine he is battling for her soul?”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“I’ll tell the Chief and he’ll squash you like the little flea-ridden castrated cock you are.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“Listen, you might as well learn now that life’s nothin’ but a dirt sandwich and save yourself a lot of time.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“He used his large shoulders and movements to impose his dominance over others as he strutted around but his facial expressions were a giveaway to people like Maeve who was born into a gritty group of native born fighting Irish. While many saw him as a man who worked his way up to power and influence and attained success that others fail to achieve, she saw him as a sham. He didn’t acquire loyalty by goodwill, but by corruption, fear, and loathing.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“She’s a cop’s wife. She understands what her husband does for a living,” the priest said.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“When those we care about are weakest, that’s when we must be strong for them.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“You can use all the hundred dollar words you want,” said Vic, “women like that are like TNT. You go after their man, they’d sooner kill you than look at you.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“A long walk. A very long walk. Sand between my toes. The rough surf at times reaching and washing away my footprints. About a mile down the beach, I sat down and started thinking back through everything Vance had told me so far. Thought about what my next moves would be. Seeing the Asian guy tomorrow and having him snoop would settle one thing in my mind. Did Vance do it or not? Crucial. Until I knew that, I didn’t want to go any further.”
― Behcet Kaya, Body In The Woods

“Next thing I remember was waking up on swampy ground and it was beginning to spit rain. I had no clue where I was, but I was hurting like hell. It was hard to take a breath; probably a broken rib or two? I felt around. My gun and knife were gone, along with my shoes and jacket with my cell phone, driver’s license, and two-thousand in cash.”
― Behcet Kaya, Treacherous Estate

“What do you intend to do when you wake up? Will you proclaim the truth or continue to hide behind your façade?”
― Steve Rush, Lethal Impulse

“In contrast, Anderson was trying hard not to show his brimful-teary eyes. He felt his face heating. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose. At the same time, anger began to grow in the pit of his stomach.”
― Behcet Kaya, Murder on the Naval Base

“One after another, deliberate actions focused on Neil. He identified no reason. For fifteen months, he lived in harmony with the church and the community. An assault on him and his character began the past Saturday evening. Someone painted his portrait in blood on the barn wall and contrived evidence to implicate him in the murders.”
― Steve Rush, Lethal Impulse

“I couldn't see why it shouldn't be my one hundred dollars.”
― Walter Mosley

“Miss Leary, do you mean to insinuate that I should go encouraging homo-sex-uality amongst these corpses?”
― William Lindsay Gresham

“As I trotted down the hall, Fritz was holding the street door open and three people were entering in the shape of a sandwich – a dick, Zorka, and another dick.”
― Rex Stout, Over My Dead Body

“The depths cleared again. Something moved in them that was not a board. It rose slowly, with an infinitely careless languor, a long dark twisted something that rolled lazily in the water as it rose. It broke surface casually, lightly, without haste. I saw wool, sodden and black, a leather jerkin blacker than ink, a pair of slacks. I saw shoes and something that bulged nastily between the shoes and the cuffs of the slacks. I saw a wave of dark blond hair straighten out in the water and hold still for a brief instant as if with a calculated effect, and then swirl into a tangle again.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake

“And to think I could be at home cleaning the cat box," Esther Charlemagne said. "Watching for a Peeping Tom is so much better."
~ Chapter 2 The Night Shadow by Cheri Vause”
― Cheri Vause, Author

“There are a few rules in investigations, and one is to never cringe at the person’s appearance that you’re about to pump for info.”
― Ruth Bainbridge, Savage Fall

“My goal is to live far outside of history as possible. History is a territory where mostly bad things happen to good people.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“Misfits, con artists, evildoers all had business cards. It was enough to make any man a bona fide misanthrope.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Pattaya 24/7

“He didn't pay any attention to anything but the white-and-silver girl down in front. She belonged here; she was like something holy, like one of the altar candles, like an angel. He didn't pay any attention to the altar. There were priests up there chanting the litany; their white-and-gold benediction vestments draped over the red velvet chairs. There was a choir of seminarians singing. Singing the responses. Their faces were foreign like the town; brown Mexican faces, somber, and their voices, unaccompanied were like a heaven choir. He didn't care about that. He hadn't come here to pray; he'd come with a gun to keep his eye on a rat. He wasn't going to be sucked in by holiness.”
― Dorothy B. Hughes, Ride the Pink Horse

“In "The Unwanted," the server experiences are real (servers gave me their stories); not just the hilarity of the patrons, but the stories behind the people. Well, except for the ending... love a mystery and a surprise.”
― Stewert James, The Unwanted