Harper Lin > Quotes

“Okay, maybe I could imagine it, but obviously that didn’t mean anything like it could have really happened. It just meant I was weird and crazy.”
― Harper Lin, A Hiss-tory of Magic

“This was Canada after all, where no one was overly impressed by anything.”
― Harper Lin, Killer Christmas

“There was something restorative about the sea breezes. Standing at the edge of the world, the water swirling around your feet and inching you deeper into the sand, while staring off at the expanse of the ocean is grounding. Some people said it made them feel small, but it didn’t do that for me. It made me feel a part of something big.”
― Harper Lin, Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse

“irritated”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“She and her husband, Lucien, had both turned sixty-five that year, and while Lucien had settled into placid retirement, Gretchen was going through something of a late midlife crisis or a really late puberty. She dreamed of being whisked away by a handsome stranger to some gorgeous beach somewhere. Their house was adorned with photos of the Bahamas, the Seychelles, the Maldives, and other exotic locales, all taken by someone else. As far as I could tell, the couple had never been farther than Maine.”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“Helpful. Handsome. Humble. A dangerous combination bound to attract envy and spite. Charles’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. He was on the phone with 9-1-1, informing them of the death, identifying himself to the woman on the phone, who apparently knew him, and giving the details. After he hung up, he gently led Gretchen back into the living room. I followed, wiping a tear from my eye. That tear reassured me. I had seen a lot of death in my time, and had caused a fair amount of it, too, but I had never become any more hardened than what the job absolutely demanded. Once out in the living room, I hardened again. One of these five senior citizens was a murderer, and I was the woman who could discover the culprit. Gretchen? The odds suggested that it was her. Most of the time when a married person gets bumped off, it’s the spouse. The motive was usually one of three things: money, abuse, or an affair. Lucien didn’t have much money and shared it all with Gretchen anyway, plus he wasn’t the abusing kind. People have surprised me before in that department, but that was well beyond the realm of possibility. An affair? Lucien didn’t seem the sort of person to cheat. From what I’d heard, he had refused many offers. In fact, he had refused someone in this very room.”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“it was just the universe trying to mess with me. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? That was what my mother would have said anyway. So far the only good that had”
― Harper Lin, Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse

“Least likely was Pearl, who at ninety-six was by far the oldest and feeblest in the group. I couldn’t think of a motive, but that didn’t mean a motive didn’t exist. She had a sick sense of humor, and she was the only one whose eyes weren’t wet. Perhaps she had seen so many friends die that she had come to accept death as a regular occurrence. Or perhaps she didn’t mind that Lucien had keeled over. I’d have to check that out.”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“Friends kept telling me that I’d get over him as soon as I met someone else, but I always compared every guy I dated to Sterling. When he used to look at me, it was as if I was the only person who existed to him. When he hugged me, I felt completely warm, secure and cared for. It was hard being sent back out into the cold after that.”
― Harper Lin, Killer Christmas

“the “Luciens!” in the world wouldn’t bring him back. Charles approached, checked Lucien for a pulse that he did not find, and put a calming hand on Gretchen’s back. I hovered near the doorway, wondering about Pearl’s question. Just what did happen in here? At Lucien’s age, your chest can”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“that my hands were pinned up by my shoulders, as if I had been raising them in surrender when she moved in. I patted the woman’s shoulders feebly with the slight range of motion I had in my wrists. “You don’t have”
― Harper Lin, Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse

“Clémence had gone to art school to be a painter, but she had grown up with a thorough knowledge of baking and desserts thanks to her parents. They”
― Harper Lin, Macaron Murder

“Recipe 1: Hot Chocolate Latte Ingredients: • 4 cups brewed hot coffee • 1 cup half-and-half • 1/4 cup chocolate syrup • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract • 2 tablespoons sugar Stir everything in a pan over low-medium heat for five minutes or thoroughly heated. Serve with whipped cream!”
― Harper Lin, Killer Christmas

“among the gray-haired belles of Cheerville. Perhaps that was because her husband had left her many years ago for a younger woman. That’s why she took the plotline of Endless Beach so personally. At seventy-two, more than a little overweight, and relying on a walker, she hadn’t exactly been Lucien’s most fetching offer, but when she had opened up her heart to him a few months back, the guy let her down easy. So easy, in fact, that she stayed in the reading group and everyone got along. At least on the surface. Could Pauline be angry and hurt enough to kill her autumn love? Or could Gretchen suspect the two had been having an affair and decided to bump Lucien off? Or maybe I had it all wrong and there”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“Whoever broke whatever broke is in so much trouble I can’t even find words!” she yelled.”
― Harper Lin, Sweets and a Stabbing

“If it was the murderer, wouldn’t that tip him off that we were on his trail?”
― Harper Lin, Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse

“They didn’t know that she was the heiress to one of the country’s most popular dessert and pastry chains.”
― Harper Lin, Macaron Murder

“Throbbing” was a word often seen in Behind Open Curtains, as was “pulsating,” “yearning,” “moaning,” and “clenching.” There were even a few yelps and ululations. Just who the heck ululates in bed, anyhow? And there was so much fire symbolism in Behind Open Curtains that those curtains must have been made of asbestos.”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“Drier passersby gawked at her, but she barely noticed, since her black-framed glasses were covered in drops of water. When she looked through them, she had the compound vision of a fly. After taking a deep breath from the safety of the Old Cedar Bank doorway, she looked up into the sky. It was a swirling mess of gray clouds. The wind wasn’t strong, but it was enough to direct the drops right in her direction. She spied another doorway across the street at the Spotlight Boutique that would offer a couple inches of shelter.”
― Harper Lin, A Book to Kill For

“Recipe 3: Hot Cider Nog Ingredients: • 1 cup apple cider • 1 cup milk • 2 cups half-and-half • 2 large eggs • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg • 1/8 tsp salt • 1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped Whisk all ingredients except whipping cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk occasionally until mixture thickens and coats a spoon (around 15 minutes). Top with whipping cream. Garnish with a cinnamon”
― Harper Lin, Killer Christmas

“If they didn’t hold eye contact while clinking glasses, a French superstition stipulated that they would have seven years of bad sex.”
― Harper Lin, Macaron Murder

“insistent,”
― Harper Lin, Granny's Got a Gun

“The weather changes its mood,” said Arthur. “When it’s sunny, like today, it’s full of hope and happiness. People are out. They’re more relaxed. When it rains, it’s romantic as well, but in a somber, melancholy way. The way you feel watching a black-and-white movie.”
― Harper Lin, Baguette Murder

“homes in the Ozarks that are built on tender, delicate stilts to avoid flooding,”
― Harper Lin, Sweets and a Stabbing