Quotes About Clues

Agatha Christie

often seems to me that's all detective work is, wiping out your false starts and beginning again." "Yes, it is very true, that. And it is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.

He had to deal with the physical world and not the psychic. It was his job to track down the murderer. And to do that he required no guidance from the spirit world.

Not so. Voyons! One fact leads to another—so we continue. Does the next fit in with that? A merveille! Good! We can proceed. This next little fact —no! Ah, that is curious! There is something missing—a link in the chain that is not there. We examine. We search. And that little curious fact, that possibly paltry little detail that will not tally, we put it here!" He made an extravagant gesture with his hand. "It is significant! It is tremendous!

Come now, monsieur, you're not going to run down the value of details as clues?

I wonder," I said. "I think each one of us in his secret heart fancies himself as Sherlock Holmes.

It's maddening really," said Patricia. "Probably the only chance in my life that I shall ever have of being right on the spot when a murder was done—it is a murder, isn't it? The papers were very cautious and vague, but I said to Gerry on the telephone that it must be murder. Think of it, a murder done right close by me and I wasn't even looking!" The regret in her voice was unmistakable.

Agatha Christie

Which crime—the first or the second?" "There is only one—what you call the first and second murder are only the two halves of the same crime. The second half is simple—the motive—

Agatha Christie

They left the cabin. Race locked the door and took the key with him. "We can come back later," he said. "The first thing to do is to get all the facts clear.

One wants to know," said Miss Marple, "what really happened." "She was killed." "Yes, but who killed her, and why, and what happened to her body? Where is it now?" "That's the business of the police to find out.

methods of Hercule Poirot. I do not run to and fro, making

Poirot laughed. "The moral of that is, always look under the mats!

Who is Mr. Radnor?

After this conversation, Monsieur Poirot, I shall wonder that there is anyone left alive!

Agatha Christie

My friend, in working upon a case, one does not take into account only the things that are 'mentioned.' There is no reason to mention many things which may be important. Equally, there is often an excellent reason for not mentioning them. You can take your choice of the two motives." -- Hercule Poirot

One may have a crime without a murderer, but for two crimes it is essential to have two bodies." -- Hercule Poirot

My dear Aunt," said Raymond West with some amusement, "I didn't mean that sort of village incident. I was thinking of murders and disappearances—the kind of thing that Sir Henry could tell us about by the hour if he liked.

Mrs. Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September—a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours.

Agatha Christie

ah, sim; temo que nosso amigo de devonshire não tenha usado suas pequenas células cinzentas. mediu as pegadas, mas deixou de refletir e organizar as ideias com a ordem e o método necessários.

Agatha Christie