Books Quote by S. S. Van Dine Download Open image “There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better.” — S. S. Van Dine ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2.4 out of 5 (8 ratings) Copy quoteShare Books Corpses Detective fiction Detectives Inspirational Love Novel
I once started a detective story to make moneybut I couldn't get the murder to take place! At the end of three chapters I… — Mary McCarthy Copy Share Image
“When I think of highly plotted novels I think of detective fiction or mystery fiction, the kind of work that always produces a few… — Don DeLillo Copy Share Image
What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order. — P. D. James Copy Share Image
“T[he rules of writing] require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the… — Mark Twain Copy Share Image
“In a whodunnit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it as a quite natural occurrence. They pack their bags and head off to ask questions, collect clues, ultimately to make an arrest. But I wasn't a detective. I was an editor—and, until a week ago, not… — Anthony Horowitz Copy Share
It's only murder if they find a body, otherwise It's just a missing person. — Anonymous Copy Share Image
The dead person is not truly dead until the last person who rememebers them dies. — Sarah Monette Copy Share Image
“A dead body is much more fascinating than a live one, and I have learned that most corpses tell better stories.” — Alan Bradley Copy Share Image
“[From p. 70 of the Midnight Ink paperback.] "You have to have a corpse by page fifty-seven. Page seventy at the absolute outside." "Says… — G.M. Malliet Copy Share Image
“Have you ever felt, in the course of reading a detective novel, a guilty thrill of relief at having a character murdered before he… — Jonathan Lethem Copy Share Image
Giving full rein to one's cynicism as one goes along produces a normal outlet and maintains an emotional equilibrium. — S. S. Van Dine Copy Share Image
A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no 'atmospheric' preoccupations. Such matters… — S. S. Van Dine Copy Share Image
It has long been a source of wonder to me why the leading criminological writers--men like Edmund Lester Pearson, H. B. Irving, Filson Young,… — S. S. Van Dine Copy Share Image
Only, as long as we're going insane we may as well go the whole way. A mere shred of sanity is of no value. — S. S. Van Dine Copy Share Image
Of all the criminal cases in which Philo Vance participated as unofficial investigator, the most sinister, the most bizarre, the seemingly most incomprehensible, and… — S. S. Van Dine Copy Share Image
I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not… — Aiden Wilson Tozer Copy Share Image
If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace. — Aesop Rock Copy Share Image
If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.' — Lydia Lunch Copy Share Image
My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that… — Karen Thompson Walker Copy Share Image
Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who… — Andrew Lang Copy Share Image
“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.” — Kevin Ansbro Copy Share Image
“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.” — Christopher K. Krebs Copy Share Image
“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.” — Louisa May Alcott Copy Share Image
Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit. — Charles Lamb Copy Share Image
I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about… — Floyd Cooper Copy Share Image
I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,… — Anna Quindlen Copy Share Image