Christopher St. John Sprigg > Quotes

“It is from the psychological point we must tackle this problem. Once we know the motive, we know the murderer. Once we know the murderer, there will be no difficulty in establishing how the thing was done. The right explanation will grow spontaneously from the character of the man. It will be dictated by his known movements and the means at his disposal at the time.”
“That’s really excellent, Venables! I had never realized before that there was a metaphysics of detection.” “Don’t be misled,” Venables warned him. “In the last resort it’s an art—a flair—and we invent the scientific explanation for our success afterwards. It’s not so different from the savage way of smelling out witches. I have generally found the murderer whiffed of brimstone slightly to my nostrils.”
― Christopher St. John Sprigg, Death of a Queen