Quotes from Maureen Johnson

My project . . . is solving the case." "Solving it?" Charles said, cocking his head. "Doing a report on it?" "No," she said. "I mean . . . figuring out what happened." Charles removed his glasses, folded them, and leaned back in his chair. "That's a fairly tall order

It's David!" Ellie said, throwing up her arms and breaking Stevie's concentration on Hayes and his orbit. "David, David, David!" As David David David came into the yurt

Stevie had absolutely no idea what he meant by "have a butcher's" and was not going to ask.

You could be naked, you could scream and hang out on the roof, but you do not mess with the place with the books.

I'd never be able to keep this place if it didn't pay for itself," he said. "It's absurd for one person or family to own something like this, but here we are. Now it earns its keep by hosting weddings and events, film shoots, things like that. Spring and summer, Christmas and New Year's . . . those are the busiest times.

Unlike before, when everyone was listening, now there was a dance breaking out and David was doing this weird smirk and Janelle, Vi, and Nate looked vaguely uncomfortable. You know when your moment is over.

But it felt like I knew him in the same way that I know people on television. I knew the name. I watched the show.

Sometimes, it's better not to know.

Sebastian Holt-Carey: future sixth Viscount Holt-Carey. The lord of the manor. Quick-witted and bighearted, with a taste for glam and goth and boys who liked glam and goth.

the money, all the power—none of it compares to a good book. A book gives you everything. It gives you a window into other souls, other worlds. The world is a door. Books are the key.

A pocket-sized Irish student, barely five feet tall, but with the voice and personality of someone five times that size

My father, the late and unlamented fifth viscount, was a bit of a bastard. He had one child, me, and he did not want a gay son. He made that very clear.

when people talked about feelings and touching and all of the stuff she thought was meant to be kept carefully bottled inside her own personal apothecary.

Sooz Rillington: Big doe-like eyes, legs for miles, and the confidence of ten mediocre men. A brilliant mind for Shakespeare and masterful impressionist

That Nate was feeling so positive should have served as a warning, but people rarely recognize signs when they appear.

As a Black woman at Cambridge, the one who had to deal with the looks, the muttered remarks, and the remarks said right to her face about the color of her skin.

Just a moment, she said, Murphy, yes? How did she know that? Keith asked as the woman walked to the phone. How do you have all of these strange connections inside Harrods? Who are you?

She would happily eat a hot dog every night for the entire summer

If you think I can stop Peter and Yash on their quest for comedy glory," Sebastian said to her, "you have more faith in me than I deserve

Ellingham was in the mountains of Vermont. Its story was the stuff of legend, its reputation gold-plated, its illustrious graduates legion. Its story was long but can best be summarized thusly:

There was a hollow sound in Robert's ear, a feeling of falling, of many things converging to a point as he listened to the following words and low drum of the radio and the sound of his own heart echoing through the halls of his body. He would later say that he felt like he was floating up to the ceiling, looking down on the room for a moment.

Yale and Princeton would bite their ivy-covered knuckles in jealousy over the red and gold bricks; tree-lined paths; sculptures; twee, twisting pathways; and Gothic spires.

Luck only holds out for so long

Only he and Yash planned on making an actual career out of comedy, which was not known for being the most stable of livelihoods.