Richard S. Prather > Quotes

“He was dead, all right. He had been shot, poisoned, stabbed, and strangled.

Either somebody had really had it in for him or four people had killed him. Or else it was the cleverest suicide I'd ever heard of.”
― Richard S. Prather, Take a Murder, Darling

“She was a full lipped and hipped italian tomato with Rome burning in her eyes. She had the look of a carnival in Rio, or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, or bullfights in Spain, or Saturday night in my apartment.”
― Richard S. Prather, Kill Me Tomorrow

“the normal expression in her dark eyes always made me think she was about to tell a pleasantly dirty story.”
― Richard S. Prather, Squeeze Play

“And here I was in brown slacks and a tweed jacket over a sports shirt called, according to the salesman, "Hot Hula." At least there were no wild Balinese babes doing things on the shirt; it was just colorful.”
― Richard S. Prather

“She held the robe together with both hands—there was so much to cover that it took both hands—and stepped aside as I walked”
― Richard S. Prather, Squeeze Play

“Listen, and I shall tell you a tale which will split your toenails”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Six

“We walked on to Don the Beachcomber’s Bora Bora Lounge and went inside, sat at the Dagger Bar. Loana ordered a Cherry Blossom and I ordered, after slight hesitation, a Puka Puka.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Three

“I argued with him, but not much—it was his house—and that’s where we left it. In another minute, we were seated in the low-ceilinged living room, furnished and decorated in a style I had not seen or even suspected before. Nothing in sight matched anything else—wicker chair, bamboo settee, chair and table of dark heavy wood ... paintings and masks and a couple of tapestries on the walls ... idols and figurines, a wooden spear straight as a long arrow next to a shield that could have been made from elephant hide ... an old flintlock and a modern high-powered scope-equipped rifle leaning aslant in one corner ... a hammered brass water pipe... Jumble of shapes, kaleidoscope of colors, but it all seemed to take on a kind of harmonious clutter after I looked at it for a while.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“you're just as dead whether they were born in a mansion or a slum, use a Magnum or a zip gun.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“saw the red Subaru XT coupe pull out from the curb in a hurry, half a block ahead. And because it accelerated so fast, rear wheels spinning and squealing as it started to pick up speed, I took a good look at the car, and the man alone inside,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“looked like enough moolah to choke all the cows in Carnation.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“The only car in sight was just turning into Chavez Ravine Road and traveling fast. All I could see was the taillight,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Papa grabbed my ten-dollar bill as if it were already twenty shots of bourbon,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“She was about twenty-five years old, possibly less, with muddy brown hair and eyes and complexion. Squint lines of worry etched the skin around her eyes, and the corners of her thin-lipped mouth turned down. Her face was almost expressionless, as if she were trying to keep the features rigid and immobile.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“pulled out into the Chavez Ravine Road, headed toward Elysian Park Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. We'd driven”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I’m not sure. We found his body on the floor next to some kind of equipment that was wired in to a transformer, connected in turn to a two-twenty-volt power source. The piece of equipment wasn’t grounded — had been, but the ground connection had come loose one of the lab men told me — and it looked as if something had shorted out and electrocuted him. That’ll be checked by the experts. But, for reasons of my own, I think he may have been murdered.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“First little thing: Aralia, the name of Norman Amber’s long-dead daughter, is an unusual name. So unusual, at least, that I’ve never come across it before, and I have done some research in this area.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“We've got literally hundreds of cults—everything from John Believer's World Security Party, with its devilishly clever slogan, "Everybody Is Something," to Zoomites, complete with Head Zoom”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“held her head in my hands and spoke from behind her back. “Monique, listen,” I said. I spoke very slowly, deliberately letting the words drag while my voice got lower, softer, deeper. “First, I'm going to strip you naked and strip the dead man naked. I think he's dead. I'm almost sure he's dead. And I'll bind you both together, your warm body pressed against his own and your face against his cheek. I'll tie his arms around you, and yours around him and I'll leave you here alone, like lovers. You'll feel his body cooling, the flesh becoming cool and damp while darkness falls. And then it will be night, dark night, and you'll hear rustling all around you, in the grass and in the branches of the trees. Right now, you think you'll know it's only wind, or crawling things, but when it happens you won't know. The sounds will crawl into your mind like worms.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“I know it’s foolish, and not in the least admirable, possibly inexcusable. But, perhaps because it is a minimum of half an hour after I get out of bed before my blood begins to move, much less warm up, I feel it is unconscionable of other people to arise and act healthy, act as if they’re having fun. At least, so ridiculously early in the morning. It shows crude insensitivity, and a lack of consideration for the rest of us. It is cruel. It is heartless. It is really dirty. The more I thought about it, the more ticked off I got.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“There was an odd expression on his face, as if he was smiling on one side and frowning on the other. The thought sang in my head like a popular song. I could almost hear music. “Smiling on the left side … crying on the right side … boop-be-boop-be-boo…”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Six

“Del Webb’s luxurious Mountain Shadows resort hotel, nestled between Mummy and Camel-back Mountains in Paradise Valley,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Six

“I am thirty years old. And expect never to get much older, even if I live to be a hundred and fifty.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“International. Facing it from Kalakaua, I looked at the totem poles on my left, garishly painted, contorted faces carved upon them. Farther left, and extending from the Avenue into the grounds, was Don the Beachcomber’s Bora Bora Lounge, in which — according to a sign outside it — was the famous Dagger Bar. On my right was the first of many little stores and shops. This one was Polynesian, crammed with idols, wood-carvings, jewelry in glass cases, a model outrigger canoe in the front window. Beyond it, all around and in the Market Place,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Three

“a man with milk in his arteries and clabber in his veins.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Three

“I'm the boy who's going to glom onto this junk—if I'm lucky.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Half a minute later I’d walked over a rock path in a dichondra lawn to the back door and was banging away on it and yelling a bit, but not excessively. Then I waited.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Five

“Her hands took mine and pressed them against her flesh, and then her fingers touched my cheek, my lips. Her hand moved on my thigh as I put my arm around her and drew her to me. She came toward me easily, lifting her head, and I felt the warmth of her breath on my face, smelled the faint perfume of her, then her lips were on mine, hot and moist, writhing, clinging wetly, devouring my mouth. I thought I heard a bang. A kind of slamming sound. The film clicked through the projector, slapped as the end came free, and white light flashed against the wall. The room became brighter. I'd forgotten the projector. I wondered what I'd heard or thought I'd heard. The Countess was breathing audibly, her breasts heaving. She said, “Did you hear something?" “What?" “Something slamming? In the house?" “I thought I did." “It must have been the door. Oh, God." “The door?" “Yes. Oh, God." “Huh?" “My husband is home.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Two

“A year ago, she’d been photographed in a green and bosky glade, facing a small silver stream that trickled down a gentle slope.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Three

“managed a hamburger and malt at a Spring Street cafe, then found a spot between Third and Fourth on Broadway to park my sick-yellow Cadillac. I squeezed into the slot, stuck a nickel in the parking meter, and walked ten steps to the Hamilton Building wherein resides Sheldon Scott, Investigations, one flight up.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One