T.E. Kinsey > Quotes

“What would I do without you?’ I thought for a moment. ‘Starve to death, my lady. In the dark.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It’s abductive reasoning, not deductive. Working from observation to theory is abduction, not deduction.’ ‘But”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Opulence without elegance seems to be her motto.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“In the absence of my beloved and much-derided crime board,’ she said, ‘I’ve been reduced to writing things in my journal like some sort of medieval peasant.’ She”
― T E Kinsey, Death Around the Bend

“Even without Lady Hardcastle’s scientific education I knew that being suspended by the neck on a length of sturdy rope wasn’t conducive to long life.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“They even managed to put the books on the shelves.’ She looked closer. ‘I’m not sure I’d have put Charles Dickens next to Isaac Newton except at a dinner party, and then only if Nellie Melba hadn’t turned up, but they’ve done their best.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“To tell you the truth,’ said Lady Hardcastle, ‘I’ve never quite understood the attraction of snow. It’s beautiful for the first hour or so, but it soon degenerates into a filthy grey slush. Then it grimes up the hem of one’s dress or freezes overnight and turns even the shortest walk into a treacherous expedition across an arctic hell.’ ‘Hell has ice now?’ I said. ‘Mine does,’ she replied. ‘And bagpipes.”
― T E Kinsey, Christmas at The Grange

“Oh, she’s one of those fortunate creatures whose heads will never be troubled by the arrival of anything so inconvenient as a structured, logical, or even original thought. Nevertheless,”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“And in the centre of the clearing, my dear Florence,’ she was saying, without apparently having broken her conversational stride, ‘we have . . . I say!’ ‘A dead body, my lady?’ I said. ‘I was going to say, “a magnificent English oak”,’ she said, somewhat distractedly, ‘but the body is definitely the more arresting sight.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Count Pfumpfel von Schnerfenflerf.”
― T E Kinsey, Christmas at The Grange

“She was utterly devoted to the world’s most preposterous dog.”
― T E Kinsey, A Picture of Murder

“She pays the bills without looking at them. I overheard her talking to one of her friends once. “If one has to worry about the bills,” she says, “one can’t afford them anyway.” So if that’s the way she sees it, I makes sure to slip a little treat in for us now and again.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It’s abductive reasoning, not deductive. Working from observation to theory is abduction, not deduction.’ ‘But I thought—’ ‘Yes, you and so many other people. We know who to blame, of course, and I’ve written to him more than once care of his publisher, but he takes no notice.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Once we were on the road and safely out of earshot she said, ‘Hot, sweet tea, indeed! We shall have a bracing brandy and the devil take the blessed tea.’ We set off for home.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Stupid murderers and their stupid murders.”
― T E Kinsey, In the Market for Murder

“His quiet confidence in his authority and abilities left him free to treat everyone around him with calm respect.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“he consulted his notebook, ‘Roland Richman’s Ragtime Revue – whatever happened to a good old sing-song round the piano, that’s what I’d like to know?”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“everything”
― T E Kinsey, Death Around the Bend

“They sold all their waking hours to someone else in return for a few bob to pay for a roof over our heads and food on the table.”
― T E Kinsey, Death Around the Bend

“Are you familiar with the Eastern concept of karma?’ ‘I’ve heard of it, yes. An old sergeant of mine when I was new to the force used to talk about it. “Double Entry Bookkeeping for the Soul”,”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Mysteries are at their most interesting while they remain mysterious.”
― T E Kinsey, In the Market for Murder

“Every time we think we’ve got the chance to enjoy ourselves, someone comes along and dies. Quite”
― T E Kinsey, A Picture of Murder

“You know how these chaps can be. They promise to put everything in its place, but then you move in and find that they’ve put the aspidistra in the bedroom and the piano in the kitchen.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“He’s an infuriating bufflehead”
― T.E. Kinsey, An Assassination on the Agenda

“A maid with bad knees called Edna—’ ‘She has knees called Edna?”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“You’re squiffy, dear,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Soaked. Spiffed. Three sheets in the wind. All mops and brooms. You are in Liquorpond Street with more than a touch of boskiness about you. You are wet-handed, what-nosed and whittled. You are, in short, as tight as a boiled owl.”
― T.E. Kinsey, An Act of Foul Play

“the foot of the servants’ staircase”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“She had suggested that I open one of the bottles of wine we’d brought from the London flat, but I made do with water. Wine was for sharing.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“I’m not sure I’d have put Charles Dickens next to Isaac Newton except at a dinner party, and then only if Nellie Melba hadn’t turned up, but they’ve done their best.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“should perhaps make allowances. England isn’t all he remembers it to be. I think he has a rather romantic notion of what “Blighty” should be like, and all this has quite shattered his illusions.’ ‘I dare say,’ said the inspector distractedly, as he made some notes in his notebook. There was a knock on the door and Jenkins entered with a tray of coffee, sandwiches, and some shortbread biscuits. ‘Your luncheon, my lady,’ he said, pointedly ignoring the inspector. ‘Mrs Brown thought you might appreciate some biscuits, too.’ ‘She’s very thoughtful, Jenkins,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Please thank her for us.’ ‘Yes, my lady. Will there be anything else?’ ‘No, Jenkins, thank you.’ ‘Very good, my lady,’ he said with a slight bow. He left as quietly as he had entered. Inspector Sunderland seemed to be on the verge of another tirade, but thought better of it and went to pour the coffee instead. ‘Please,’ I said, stepping forward. ‘Allow me.’ ‘Certainly, miss. If you insist.’ ‘Thank you, Inspector,’ I said, as I poured coffee for the two of them. ‘Just doing my duty.’ ‘Don’t show off, Armstrong,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Pour yourself one, too.’ I curtseyed. ‘Thank you, m’lady. You’re very generous to a poor servant”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country