The detective novel is the art-for-art's-sake of our yawning Philistinism, the classic example of a specialized form of art removed from contact with the life it pretends to build on.
Read like a detective and write like a conscientious investigative reporter.
As a professional writer of detective stories, I string along with the ballplayers. I love a ball game.
What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with truth is fundamental but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies and concealment and every variation on deception.
Unless you are good at guessing, it is not much use being a detective.
I also wonder why is it that so many of the movies and books that are detective stories are also the most aesthetically interesting? From Hollywood noirs to horror movies like The Shining [1980].
Television is making, there was in independent film renaissance late '80s through the mid-90's. It was an amazing time. Television is doing that right now. So that's why everybody wants to do it. I mean if you're writing stuff like, you know, Fargo, or True Detective, or any of these things that are on, Breaking Bad, there are no rules in television.
This element of surprise or mystery the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called is of great importance in a plot.
Let me express how much I don't care on a scale of one to bite me," the former detective said.
I was disappointed, but I kind of knew it was going to be an uphill struggle because of how strong the first season [of "True Detective"] was.
He just waited until I stopped talking and said, 'Jesus, kid, you're almost a detective. All you need now is a gun, a gut, and three ex-wives. So what's your theory?
I am a private detective. I am paid to be inquisitive and presumptuous.
Ned said "Nancy Drew is the best girl detective in the whole world!" "Don't you believe him," Nancy said quickly. "I have solved some mysteries, I'll admit, and I enjoy it, but I'm sure there are many other girls who could do the same.
I love the French detective series 'Spiral. ' It's quite brutal to watch, but I'm already hooked.
You just work really hard and scrutinize. What is it called in politics? "Opposition research"? You want to do the detective work on your client so to speak before your opponent can dig it up. We're vetting everything thoroughly.
With the Great Detective, to think was to act, and to act was to think. Frequently he could do both together.
I read the script [of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency] and went, "I haven't read anything this good, in a long time. " I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The dialogue is so sparkling, smart and witty. You also have these insane, crazy characters, like energy sucking vampires and holistic assassins. It's all completely weird.
I was really bummed when I got to the last one of Tony Hillerman Navajo detective books.
The instant they say something you don't expect or already know, you should drop into detective mode.
I think if you need to use a gun you're doing a lousy job as a detective.