Sue Grafton

“Violent death is like a monster. The closer you get to it, the more damage you sustain if you survive at all.”

— Sue Grafton

“Family’s tough. It’s like walking through a minefield, hoping you won’t get blown to bits,”

— Sue Grafton

“What I wanted was to bang by forehead against the steering wheel till it bled. Maybe the self-inflicted pain would help me…

— Sue Grafton

There are days when none of us can bear it, but the good comes around again. Happiness is seasonal, like anything else.…

— Sue Grafton

It's been my observation, after years in the [insurance] business, that a certain percent of the population simply can't resist the urge…

— Sue Grafton

What could smell better than supper being cooked by someone else?

— Sue Grafton

“It's like people think just because you go to church you're not all that bright. I mean just because I'm a born-again…

— Sue Grafton

My primary lesson, however, was that I'm a solo writer, happiest when I'm making all the executive decisions. I've always been willing…

— Sue Grafton

My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series…

— Sue Grafton

“The Latin term pro bono, as most attorneys will attest, roughly translated means for boneheads and applies to work done without charge.”

— Sue Grafton

Personally, I don't endorse the notion of mortality. It's fine for other folk, but I disapprove of the concept for me and…

— Sue Grafton

“People can hold out just so long and then they fold.”

— Sue Grafton

Pretending to be 'normal' is a lot harder than you think.

— Sue Grafton

There is no sound so terrible as a man's sorrow for his own death.

— Sue Grafton

Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and…

— Sue Grafton

There are laws for everything except the harm families do.

— Sue Grafton

“regardless of social status, we derive comfort from our stuff; the familiar warp and weft of our lives”

— Sue Grafton

“Grief is as contagious as a yawn.”

— Sue Grafton

Grade school was perilous. ... I can see how I must have worried them. I was the kind of kid who, for…

— Sue Grafton

If you're unhappy, change something.

— Sue Grafton

“The cold hard truth will fall on stony ground, whereas your all-around trashy rumor will flourish like a weed.”

— Sue Grafton

“Let’s face it, life is trivial, and my guess is that dying imparts very little wisdom on those in process.”

— Sue Grafton

“I've never been a big fan of exercise. I just can't think of any other way to feel good." Kinsey Milhone”

— Sue Grafton

Sometimes the hardest part of my job is the incessant reminder of the fact we're all trying so assiduously to ignore: we…

— Sue Grafton

To many women mistake a man's hostility for wit and his silence for depth.

— Sue Grafton