Quotes from Ann Cleeves

Some people are like a rich chocolate cake, don't you think, Jimmy? You'd only enjoy them in small mouthfuls.

The one thing Vera knew about parents was that they liked talking about their offspring.

The snow was fine and powdery. She could see how the wind might have caught the tiny flakes. It was deep enough to trickle into her boots. Thank God for fat legs so there wasn't much of a gap.

It astonished him how many of the players in the case still lived in the town, or had connections with the place. It was as if they'd had no ambition, or lacked the confidence to uproot themselves and try life elsewhere.

Perhaps that was why she drove so fast, because she didn't want the girl to have the same sort of memories of childhood that she'd been left with: the fear in the pit of the stomach and the longing to be home in a familiar place.

She forwarded it to Vera

He wasn't given to strange thoughts, but it occurred to him suddenly that Mardle was toxic. There was something unhealthy in the air.

I'm fit as a lop.

He was one of those quiet, sickly bairns. I was a nursery nurse before I married and I knew the sort. Given to asthma and feeling sorry for himself. It didn't help that he was an only child and his mother loved the bones of him.

Guilt always made her ratty.

didn't have time for small talk.

disappearance. He lived alone. She had an idea that he might have been married once, but he didn't talk about children. He lived in Denby

was she keen to let slip that she'd been back to visit Joanna the night before. He began with a recap.

Generally making myself indispensable. I was ambitious in those days. It seems ridiculous now.

Sometimes he asked Sandy questions, not expecting much of an answer, but because he wanted to make him think, hoping that it might become a habit.

Then they all jumped in again, sharing memories, telling the same old stories, because if they were talking about the past, somehow they didn't have to think too much about the present.

But I've come to realize writing's not a noble calling. Like you said, it's all about marketing, isn't it?

It was sudden thoughts about the things Maggie would have liked or pieces of gossip that he'd like to pass on that made grief come back and bite him on the bum.

In the old days she would have dug in her heels, but she was old and canny enough to realize there was no point starting battles you could never win.

And miles to go before I sleep . . .

Perhaps fear in the abstract is worse than facing the immediate reality.' Vera had still seemed preoccupied by morbid thoughts, but her voice had been cheerful. She probably wasn't afraid of anything. Joe hadn't bothered answering.

When you got old there was the worry of indignity and dying.

Mary hadn't said a word. She'd seemed frozen. It had been as if she were holding her breath.

He was so restless and he had so much energy, but it was destructive. Like it wasn't the sort of energy that got walls painted or the house cleaned. He just prowled like a lion in a cage.