Whodunit Quotes

#1. My first novel, 'Compromising Positions,' was a whodunit. The protagonist was a Long Island Jewish housewife who turns private investigator. But she was Jewish the way I was: lighting Sabbath candles but envying her Protestant and Catholic friends' December decorating options.

Susan Isaacs

#2. I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.

Joel Kinnaman

#3. You know, Longmire and all those other great (whodunit) series, I would love to one of those. We just haven't found the right one ... I really am, I think, an old soul, I think, in the acting world. I'm very comfortable in the fifty, sixties era. I love it.

Drew Waters

#4. When you're writing a whodunit, the dead body is the most important character. It's the pivot point around which the plot spins.

Adrianne Lee

#5. The first show I ever worked on was The Killing, which was a whodunit crime show.

Bex Taylor-Klaus

#6. A mystery is a whodunit. You know what happened, but not how or who's behind it. A thriller, or a suspense, is a howdunit. You know what happened, and you usually know who did it, but you keep reading because you want to know how they pulled it off.

M.J. Rose

#7. I do believe that even if you're the most clever person around and you figure out the 'whodunit' and you're not surprised - that shouldn't prevent you from enjoying the story.

Marc Guggenheim

#8. The busy snoops like us can leave no stone unturned, Alma said.

Ed Lynskey

#9. Quote taken from Chapter 1 of The Corpse Wore Gingham:
"You love to figure out things as much as I do," Piper said.
"Like what?" Bill asked.
"You fix broken stuff," Piper replied.
"Repairing a broken toaster or steam iron is far different than unraveling a murder mystery," Bill said.

Ed Lynskey

#10. What do we know about the Yank?"
"The one you were flirting with in there?"
"I was not flirting."
"You were flirting."
"You catch more flies with honey."
"Yeah? Well why in the heck would you want to catch flies in the first place?"
He had her there.

Carlene O'Connor

#11. Alma didn't want Isabel to start singing the praises of their pet, a rescue beagle, or she wouldn't shush until sundown.
"I've found the missing lady," Alma said. "Say welcome home, Betsy Sweet.

Ed Lynskey

#12. Well, sometimes," Dane said, "Just because someone uses something wrong doesn't mean it's useless.

China Mieville

#13. She craved a tall glass of the fresh-squeezed lemonade from the pitcher she'd left chilling in the fridge. Two glasses served with a generous slice of pound cake with orange glaze icing sounded twice as nice.

Ed Lynskey

#14. Quote taken from Chapter 1:
A grave matter has just arisen." Etta hadn't intended to make the pun. She went on. "It's a problem right up your alley.

Ed Lynskey

#15. Petey Samson gave the ladies an over-the-shoulder glance. He realized no doggie treat was forthcoming, even from Isabel who was usually the soft mark to hit up. He scratched his front claws to re-attack the sand.

Ed Lynskey

#16. Most do not understand what sight is. The mind isn't free. If you don't want to see something, you simply just need to open your eyes.

Lionel Suggs

#17. Quote taken from Chapter 1:
The June afternoon had clear, blue skies - ideal weather for birdwatching.

Ed Lynskey

#18. Within the same hour as the murder took place, Isabel Trumbo sat in her armchair dozing, the Alaskan Outdoor magazine on her lap. Her kid sister Alma fidgeted in the other armchair, from time to time picking up her newspaper folded over to the day's crossword puzzle.

Ed Lynskey

#19. Gentlemen, the character of Washington is among the most cherished contemplations of my life. It is a fixed star in the firmament of great names, shining without twinkling or obscuration, with clear, steady, beneficent light.

Daniel Webster

#20. You're a nosy sleuth like me because you can't help it, Alma said.

Ed Lynskey

#21. She was daft. That's what she was. Completely mental. There was no other explanation for why she was lurking in the back of Butler's Undertaker Lounge and Pub while her siblings were about to go in the front so they could distract him.

Carlene O'Connor

#22. I thought the butler always did it," someone remarked under their breath.

Carlene O'Connor

#23. When Death lurks at the door, the physician is considered as a God. When danger has been overcome, the physician is looked upon as an angel. When the patient begins to convalesce, the physician becomes a mere human. When the physician asks for his fees, he is considered as the devil himself.

Hendrik Goltzius

#24. Quote taken from Chapter 1
Bill hung up, grumbling to nobody in particular. Emily was about the only caller using the landline phone, and he regretted not getting rid of it. The Robinses were probably the lone holdouts on their city block to still have one.

Ed Lynskey

#25. I am good at keeping secrets. I am wrapped in them now, the way I am wrapped in lies, like my sweater, clinging tightly to my skin, even on the hottest of days.

Jillian Cantor

#26. Nozy Cat lifted one sleepy eyelid, and his marble blue eye glared at her for interrupting his sacred nap. He wore a yellow collar with little red stars printed on it. His second eyelid also opened, and he gave them his irritated blue-eyed glare.

Lyn Key

#27. So you say. I just hope you don't catch some exotic dinosaur ailment because Eustis probably doesn't stock the right pills to treat it.

Ed Lynskey

#28. Quote is taken from Chapter 1:
Since Etta could log in her rare Baltimore oriole sighting, she decided she'd had enough birding for one day. It was just a fun hobby, not an obsession.

Ed Lynskey

#29. Iain now calls you Jessica Fletcher, and he said I can tell you things within reason, and we can both sit back and wait for you to solve our cases. And that he'll be consulting you on one or two others, but I think he was joking.

E.J. Lamprey

#30. Yes, it is an interesting instance of a throwback, which appears to be both physical and spiritual.

Arthur Conan Doyle

#31. We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals.

Ann Coulter

#32. Diamond heists, romance & intrigue feature in Stella di Mare.

Patricia Bellomo

#33. My mom says that my dad coerced me into choosing the cello. He says that's not entirely true. I don't remember; I was three.

Joshua Roman

#34. Isabel frowned. "Alma Trumbo, you did not just dig up a human bone from our flowerbed. It's got to be a dinosaur bone, dinky or not."
"A dinosaur bone, eh?" The short, stout Alma gave her tall, slim sister the old up and down. "What then, are we the Flintstones living in Bedrock?

Ed Lynskey

#35. Quote taken from Chapter 1:
I know what." Isabel reached under the end table, took out the game board, and rattled the Band-Aid box containing the letter tiles. "It's been a week-and-a-half since our last Scrabble game.

Ed Lynskey

#36. I started rubbing my temples and she suggested I don't really get headaches. It just hurts me to think.

Kelley Armstrong

#37. Hope turned sly. "What if the slice of apple pie is served a la mode?"

Smiling, Peggy Sue regarded her tall, brunette, and blue-eyed friend. "Is the slice of apple pie served a la mode with three scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream piled on top of it?

Lyn Key

#38. In fact, until the last moments of his life, until the last seconds as he gasped for breath, he never realised how much he wanted to live. But, at that point, death was inevitable and nothing that had happened could be changed.

Stephen Craig