Home > Work > A Picture of Murder (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #4)
21 " You understand how the machinery works, but not the mind controlling it. "
― T.E. Kinsey , A Picture of Murder (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #4)
22 " You’re quite a frightening woman, you know.’ ‘People keep saying that,’ I said. ‘I always thought of myself as winsome and charming. "
23 " I find him very wearisome,’ he said. ‘I’d fight to the death to protect his right to hold any opinion he wishes, and for his right to express that opinion openly. But I’d also fight to the death not to have to listen to him while he’s doing so. "
24 " You’re wasting your time, certainly, but you’re doing nothing wrong. "
25 " Lady Hardcastle was untidy. She moved about the world surrounded by an invisible cloud of disorder and disarray. She could walk into a room, have a conversation with someone, and then leave without apparently having touched anything. "
26 " Once she was gone, the room would be in a state of chaos, as though a storm had passed through. "
27 " Occam’s Razor,’ she said. ‘The solution with the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct. "
28 " I do love village life,’ she said, shifting a little in the armchair to make herself comfortable. ‘But it does seem to involve a great deal more commitment and effort than living in the city. "
29 " One of the best ways of getting people to tell you things that they might otherwise prefer to keep hidden is to make a false statement and give them the chance to disagree with you. "
30 " She moved about the world surrounded by an invisible cloud of disorder and disarray. She could walk into a room, have a conversation with someone, and then leave without apparently having touched anything. Once she was gone, the room would be in a state of chaos, as though a storm had passed through. "
31 " The conversation soon returned to the murders, but as far as I could make out we were just rehashing the same observations and arguments. "
32 " The conversation soon returned to the murders, but as far as I could make out we were just rehashing the same observations and arguments. There are only so many times one can hear the phrase ‘But why on earth would he do such a thing?’ before the mind begins to wander towards thoughts of lunch. "
33 " lunch. "
34 " One of the best ways of getting people to tell you things that they might otherwise prefer to keep hidden is to make a false statement and give them the chance to disagree with you. Even the most reticent of people love to contradict you when they think they know something you don’t, and they love explaining exactly why you’re wrong. "
35 " He was a generous soul with a heart uncluttered by malice and a mouth uncluttered by teeth. "
36 " thought, “Who’s most likely to have seen all the comings and goings? That’ll be my pal Daisy.” So "
37 " But why would he kill one of his own cast? It’s not quite killing the goose that laid the golden egg, but it’s just making work for yourself to kill your own staff.’ ‘I know,’ she said. ‘The same thought has saved your life more than once. "
38 " I’ve never quite understood the idea of killing someone who upsets you. They can’t be sorry once they’re dead. And even at the moment of their death they might not know it was you who killed them, or why. Far better to ruin them, to make their lives a misery.’ ‘Remind me never to upset you,’ she said. "