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Let us in on all of those mysteries that are being solved....or just give us an idea how the criminal or the sleuth think. In any case, leave us your great quotes from you crime books, it would be criminal not to!

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason, quote from page 9:

"A snatch of old verse entered Erlendur's mind as he stood, silent and deep in thought, looking down at the patch where the boy had been lying. He took a last glance up the length of the gloomy block of flats, then carefully picked his way over the icy ground toward the playground, where he grasped the cold steel of the slide with one hand. He felt the piercing cold crawl up his arm.
I am felled to the ground,
frozen and cannot be freed..."

The crime aspect is not great in this book but it's terribly funny. Emerson, the love interest was particularly hilarious. Some quotes:

"God help the poor mummy who encounters you, Peabody. We ought to suply it with a pistol, to even the odds." - Emerson

“Don't talk of duty to me; you men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging yourselves. You go gallivanting over the earth, climbing mountains, looking for the sources of the Nile; and expect women to sit dully at home embroidering. I embroider very badly. I think I would excavate rather well.�� - Amelia

"I pay the lady the compliment of assuming that she has a brain and is capable of using it." - Emerson

"Emerson proposed to stand out in the open and consume an entire bottle of wine, and then collapse upon the sand as if overcome by intoxication. This last idea was received with the silent contempt it deserved."

“On a related subject, Signore Pazzi, I must confess to you: I'm giving serious thought to eating your wife.��
�� Thomas Harris, Hannibal

Whoa!

Matt wrote: "“On a related subject, Signore Pazzi, I must confess to you: I'm giving serious thought to eating your wife.��
�� Thomas Harris, Hannibal

Whoa!"

OK, that has to be a classic, Matt!

from The Ask and the Answer, p. 46:

"We are entering a new era," Mayor Prentiss says, "You will earn my trust by joining me in creating a new society. As that new society is built and as we meet our first challenges and celebrate our first successes, you will earn the right to be called men again. You will earn the right to have your cure returned to you, and that will be the moment all men truly will be brothers."

from The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, pp. 45-46:

"Where were you all afternoon?" he asked.
"At church," I answered promptly and primly and, I hoped, a little devoutly. I was a master at this kind of deflected chitchat.
"Church?" he asked. He seemed rather surprised. "Why?"
"I was helping a woman," I said. "Her van broke down."
"Ah," he said, allowing himself a half-millimeter smile. "And there you were on the spot to offer your skills as a motor mechanic."
Daffy grinned at her book, and I knew that she was listening with pleasure to my humiliation. To give her credit, Feely remained totally absorbed in polishing her fingernails on her white silk blouse.

from Hardcase, pp. 51-52:

"Actually, you've been very helpful," he said again. And she had been. Kurtz's only real reason for interviewing her was to see if she might have been involved in the accountant's disappearance. She hadn't been. Mrs. Richardson was beautiful -- striking, even -- but she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Her ignorance had not been feigned. Kurtz doubted if she was even aware that her husband was almost certainly decomposing in a shallow grave or being nibbled on by bottom feeders in Lake Erie as they spoke.

from Death in a Strange Country, p.9

"Gradually, they slowed even more, until they reached that moment of utter stillness that separates the tides, when the waters wait for the new tide to take over the day's work. Caught in the calm, the limp thing bobbed on the surface of the water, dark-clad and invisible. Time passed in silence and then was broken by two men who walked by, chatting in soft voices filled with the easy sibilance of the Venetian dialect."

LynnB wrote: "from Death in a Strange Country, p.9

"Gradually, they slowed even more, until they reached that moment of utter stillness that separates the tides, when the waters wait for the new ti..."

Very lyrical, LynnB. Is the whole book like that?

It looks like an intriguing series. Do you recommend it?

Susan wrote: "Very lyrical, LynnB. Is the whole book like that?
It looks like an intriguing series. Do you recommend it?
"

The story is mystery/detective, so it's not all like that, but her descriptions are wonderful and I like the characters. I've only read books 1 & 2 of this series, but I really like it and will continue it ... so, yes, I would recommend it! The first book in the series is Death at La Fenice.

LynnB wrote: "The story is mystery/detective, so it's not all like that, but her descriptions are wonderful and I like the characters. I've only read books 1 & 2 of this series, but I really like it and will continue it ... so, yes, I would recommend it! The first book in the series is Death at La Fenice. "

Sounds great! I'll definitely add it to my list. And the Venice location for the first one is a plus.

Susan wrote: "Sounds great! I'll definitely add it to my list. And the Venice location for the first one is a plus. "

You're in luck, Susan, they are mostly set in Venice as the detective is with the Venice police force (that being said, the 2nd book takes place partially in Vicenza and the northern countryside).