Sleuth Quotes

“That’s it. Let’s go.”
“Yep,” whispered Suley. He turned to leave. “This is crazy.” He had his phone in his hand. “Look, we’re still in Rowland Forest. What’s this fence doing here? How come it’s not marked?”
“We’ll tell your father about it.” Saskia pulled at his arm, looking anxiously around and up. To her horror, she saw a surveillance camera mounted on an overhead tree branch. It pointed straight at them. “Merde! Suley, we’ve got to go!” she hissed, pointing to the camera.
His eyes widened.
Distant shouts and an engine roaring to life exploded the forest calm.
Suley and Saskia bolted back the way they’d come.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“Satisfied, Sundae trotted to a bush near the lake, dug vigorously for some seconds and pulled out a bone deliciously covered in mud and bits of vegetation. She took her prize to a still-sunny patch of grass and began to gnaw at it. Two magpies, their greyish necks identifying them as juveniles, landed on a nearby branch. Sundae paused, eyes flicking up to stare at the birds, then returned to attend to the bone. One of the magpies swooped down and landed on the lawn a couple of metres away from the dog. Sunny’s top lip trembled up in the prelude of a snarl. The magpie approached the dog. Sundae’s body tensed, lip furling up further, eyes focused on the agitator. The magpie inched closer. When it was half a metre away, Sundae launched. The bird flew back to the branch next to its companion. Then both birds threw their heads back and let out a rollicking call; it sounded like laughter. Rumbling a growl, Sundae returned to her bone, casting baleful glares at the birds as she gnawed.
Saskia and Tania chuckled.
“For all of my life, I have watched the magpies and dogs of Woodgrove play this game,” Tania said. “And every time I see it, I have to laugh.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“Saskia lay back again, closing her eyes and continued eating mandarin wedges. After a pause, she added, “I think that the biggest danger for people like you and me is that we start blaming people for things that happen to us. Bullies smell that kind of thing from miles away. People like you and me have to stop thinking about our limitations and start thinking about our talents and not let other people define us.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“She pulled open the reception area door, bright sunshine causing her to pause, momentarily blinding her. Her eyes adjusted and she saw Josh, Peta and Daryl in deep conversation at an outdoor table. Saskia retreated, holding the door open. She saw Daryl lunge out of his bench, reach across the table, grab the front of Josh’s shirt and haul him close. Daryl’s mouth worked in angry lines and Josh’s head bowed, shaking back and forth slowly. Peta glanced nervously over her shoulder and towards the door of the administration building. She laid a hand on Daryl’s arm, leaning towards him. Daryl let Josh loose, sinking back into his seat. Josh also sat back, tugging his shirt into place.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“With my home secured as much as I could make it, I went to buy a gun. ”
― Steven Decker, INNOCENT AGAIN: A LEGAL THRILLER

“But things had changed, and now she sat in her car outside her childhood residence staring at an open gate with a fifteen-inch Bowie knife in her lap, thinking. ”
― Chad Boudreaux, Homecoming Queen

“Rudy? You can’t take the stairs. We’re having dinner on the 71st floor.”
“It’s okay, Boss. I can walk up.”
― Behcet Kaya, Murder in Buckhead

“Anika walked to the workbench, which was flanked by two metal cabinets. She opened the cabinet on the left and spotted sundry items—nails, paint, and whatnot—that one expected to see. Even the rat poison with skull and crossbones on the bag made sense. She also saw, however, several boxes wrapped in white and labeled, “Explosive Plastic Comp-4 (C-4).” Paralyzed, she tried not to panic or stare. ”
― Chad Boudreaux, Homecoming Queen

“The woodland made it impossible to run in a straight line. She ran deeper, unsure of her bearing or when she might find civilization. Headlights ahead to the right preceded a drumming of tires on the pavement. The truck stopped. Sharnee altered her course toward the truck and screamed. Fifteen seconds later she pitched forward as if someone grabbed her ankle and threw her to the ground.”
― Steve Rush, Lethal Impulse

“I rested my head on the wall behind me and closed my eyes, wishing my life had a button: Ignore All.”
― Rachel Brady, Final Approach

“I leveled the gun and fired until it was empty.”
― Rachel Brady

“Benjamin Munro was his name. She mouthed the syllables silently, Benjamin James Munro, twenty-six years old, late of London. He had no dependents, was a hard worker, a man not given to baseless talk. He'd been born in Sussex and grown up in the Far East, the son of archaeologists. He liked green tea, the scent of jasmine, and hot days that built towards rain.
He hadn't told her all of that. He wasn't one of those pompous men who bassooned on about himself and his achievements as if a girl were just a pretty-enough face between a pair of willing ears. Instead, she'd listened and observed and gleaned, and, when the opportunity presented, crept inside the storehouse to check the head gardener's employment book. Alice had always fancied herself a sleuth, and sure enough, pinned behind a page of Mr. Harris's careful planting notes, she'd found Benjamin Munro's application. The letter itself had been brief, written in a hand Mother would have deplored, and Alice had scanned the whole, memorizing the bits, thrilling at the way the words gave depth and color to the image she'd created and been keeping for herself, like a flower pressed between pages. Like the flower he'd given her just last month. "Look, Alice"- the stem had been green and fragile in his broad, strong hand- "the first gardenia of the season.”
― Kate Morton, The Lake House

“Books are like snowflakes; different but the same.”
― Jamie Rutland Gillespie, Inheriting Murder

“Across the rectory's east lawn, through a blizzard of flying leaves, something long and thin was flapping in the wind. A ragged figure in a white nightgown hanging lifelessly from the trees.”
― Cash Peters, Horror at Horsfield Lodge

“The bell seemed to have set off an
alarm in my brain, and I glimpsed at the mysterious envelope on my desk.

There was another item I should’ve gotten from my single-shoe salesman.”
― A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder

“I decided, long ago, back-room negotiations with a nine iron and a pen, witness tampering, and suppression of evidence weren’t for me. That’s
what was expected of an independent lawyer hired by Louis Fernoza.

I wanted the corner office overlooking a
cityscape, the fine car and house, and the ability to sleep at night with a clear conscience. I’d say I achieved it all but not without a price.”
― A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder

“I considered my home sanctuary from the judicial arena, far from the Fernoza Family legacy, and I had no intention of sharing it with anyone.”
― A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder

“MG was nearly mythical, other than my entries—no interaction with users on
the off chance one was a Fernoza on the troll. And today proved I couldn’t take a stranger bearing gifts at face-value.”
― A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder

“Landry had coffee running through her veins.”
― Jamie Rutland Gillespie, Inheriting Murder

“I loved the chase. Even Riveaux’s insane driving. Not just the velocity but the violence of it all. I liked speeding through red lights. Headfirst to the edge. Scraping enough skin to burn not bleed. Sleuthing was impossible sometimes, a doomed quest. It was godly, really. A gorgeous curse. Like a plague of locusts. Like kissing a married woman.”
― Margot Douaihy, Scorched Grace

“Group of Decidedly Un-Serious People”
― Kris Courtney, Florida Retirement Is Murder

“It wasn’t bullets that killed her father. It was compromise, wrapped in a handshake.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“A sister’s hug can mend what revolutions cannot.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“He thought he had her cornered, but grief had no corners.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue