A Writer Who Is Afraid To Overreach

The Perfect Detective Story Cannot Be Written. The Type Of Mind Which Can Evolve The Perfect Problem Is Not The Type Of Mind That Can Produce The Artistic Job Of Writing.

She Was The Music Heard Faintly On The Edge Of Sound.

He (the Agent) Just Takes Ten Per Cent Of Your Life.

There Is No Bad Whiskey. There Are Only Some Whiskeys That Aren't As Good As Others.

Hammett Gave Murder Back To The Kind Of People That Commit It For Reasons, Not Just To Provide A Corpse; And With The Means At Hand, Not Hand-wrought Dueling Pistols, Curare And Tropical Fish.