The Mystery Lovers' Book of Quotations

By Jane E. Horning

Book Overview

Gathers sixteen hundred quotations by mystery writers from Peter Ackroyd to M.K. Wren, and briefly indentifies each writer

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00743HWF2
• ISBN13: 9780892969487
• Release Date: March 1989
• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Quotes vary, but provides useful information-- & fun

While somewhat dated, this book contains loads of mystery & related authors in alphabetical order, with very short descriptions, pseudonyms, major works, awards, & main characters for each. Thus, a mystery lover can locate more authors to read. The quotes vary considerably in quality IMHO-I liked about 40. It has both title & subject indices. It cites quotes by book but not by page number. Some of my favorites: p. 4: Ted Allbeury-Scholars are always putting 2 & 2 together and making 5. p. 6: Robert Edmond Alter-He felt like yesterday's newspaper left out in the rain. p. 20: Anthony Berkeley's pseudonym, Francis Iles-However superior to any number of cats a mouse may feel in its own hole, it requires a good deal of self-suggestion to maintain this opinion in the presence of the cat. p. 51: Manning Coles-One should, however, distinguish between what really shocks one's conscience & what only shocks one's prejudices. p. 78: Stanley Ellis-It's funny how many people there are in the world that you should like more than you do. p. 122: F. Tennyson Jesse-You will never find a true murderer...who kills not for rage...but a man who deliberately kills-who is not a colossal egoist. p. 147: John Malcolm-A consultant being a man who borrows your watch to tell you the time. p. 150: Harold Q. Masur-She was Vogue on the outside & vague on the inside. p. 152: Margaret Millar-Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness. p. 164: Orania Papazoglou-Logic is a wonderful invention. It is so wonderful, people often mistake it for reason. Reason, however, requires sense. Logic requires only consistency. p. 180: Helen Reilly-Do good & throw it in the sea; if God doesn't see it, the fishes will. p. 218: Colin Watson-A needle is much simpler to find in a haystack than in a bin of other needles. The author misses some good ones though, such as John D. MacDonald's: News is the process of making not very much out of practically nothing. One More Sunday p.202 Knopf 1984; Please,...the magic word friends should not have to use on one another. Dress Her in Indigo ch. 1 p.12; & Meyer's Law: In all emotional conflicts the thing you find the hardest to do is the thing you should do. Pale Gray for Guilt p.83

People like to quote

It's hard to find and remember good quotations. This editor spent 17 years finding these, mostly in books she read, but also scattered through other quotation books, in fanzines, etc.Everyone I hand this book to opens it at random, and within a page or two, finds a quotation that amuses, delights, or impresses them. Many of them find that the quotations, plus the notes about the authors, help them find new mystery authors they'll like.