Quotes from Ben Aaronovitch

Because were were both probationary constables, an experienced PC had been left to supervise us - a responsibility he diligently pursued from an all-night cafe on St. Martin's Close.

The word 'bollocks' is one of the most beautiful and flexible in the English language. It can be used to express emotional states ranging from ecstatic surprise to weary resignation in the face of inevitable disaster. And

never run a game of Hide the Lady if you can't remember where you've put the queen, because some people embrace forensic accounting as a blood sport.

Stephanopoulos was waiting for me inside. She was a short, terrifying woman whose legendary capacity for revenge had earned her the title of the lesbian officer least likely to have a flippant remark made about her sexual orientation. She was stocky, and had a square face that wasn't helped by a Sheena Easton flat-top that you might have called ironic postmodern dyke chic, but only if you really craved suffering.

I think it's designed to flower open like a Chocolate Orange." Me and Lesley then had to explain Terry's Chocolate Orange to Nightingale. "Not unlike a practitioner's hand opening to reveal a werelight," said Nightingale. "Not unlike at all," I said. Yeah, exactly like that I thought.

This was not a room that had been decorated. Rather it had accumulated over time around someone with a yen for comfort and a wicked sense of color.

It's not like me and Lesley are inconspicuous,' I'd said. Nightingale had winced, as he always does, at my incorrect use of the accusative pronoun but I think I'm beginning to wear him down.

Then he smiled at me and for that moment, and just that moment, I forgave him everything—everything—because now I knew what joy looked like and I was part of it.

One Hyde Park squatted next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel like a stack of office furniture, and with all the elegance and charm of the inside of a photocopier. Albeit a brand new photocopier that doubled as a fax and document scanner.

People still use the phrase hoisted by his own petard

Now, for solid historical reasons, I'm not comfortable with dividing people up into groups.

Inside, it was very dark but I am, if not exactly a master, then definitely an apprentice in the secret arts. And as such I laugh in the face of darkness.

Step Two: don't panic. When Nightingale was training me he said that if you're not dead in the first instance, then your chances of survival are much improved. 'By how much?' I'd asked. 'That depends,' said Nightingale. 'On what?' 'On what happens next,' he said.

Fuck me,' I said out loud, 'I'm in fairyland.

It had a long and varied history, mostly involving crime, prostitution and the theater,

even before I got close enough to see the flecks of hazel-gold around the iris I had her pegged as being fayer than the client list of a New Zealand casting agency.

I nodded absently as I made a note of the pub. The Rising Sun drinking establishment exists right on the fringes of the demi-monde – not being nearly as antique or mysterious as it pretends to be.

So etwas wie ein ständiges Spurensicherungsteam gibt es übrigens nicht. da die Spurensicherung so teuer ist, bestellt man sie beim Innenministerium immer nur häppchenweise wie beim chinesischen Lieferservice. Aus der prozession von Plastikanzügen zu schließen, die an uns vorüberzog, hatte Stephanopoulos sich das Super-Deluxe-Menü für sechs Personen mit einer extraportion Reis gegönnt. Und ich war dann wohl der Glückskeks.

There was a statue on the lawn outside the institute of a woman, hand on breast, looking mournfully upwards as if contemplating the death of a loved one and the amount of paperwork it was bound to cause.

The word 'bollocks' is one of the most beautiful and flexible in the English language. It can be used to express emotional states ranging from ecstatic surprise to weary resignation in the face of inevitable disaster.

In the first place I don't 'make' anybody do anything," she said. "I merely offer people the opportunity to participate in the glorious pageant that is my existence on Earth. In which they come away greatly enriched, both emotionally and spiritually.

Seen something?" asked Nightingale, making me jump. "Jesus Christ," I said. "Not on this river," said Nightingale. "Not even Blake thought that was possible." We

Missing kids are tough cases. I mean, murder is bad but at least the worst has already happened to the victim—they're not going to get any deader. Missing kids come with a literal deadline, made worse by the fact that you don't get to learn the timing until it's too late.

Here is a bit of man's wisdom for you – when you think things can't get worse, they usually do.