Noir Fiction Quotes

“I can smack a ball-bearing between your abusive fiancé’s eyes before his wingtips hit the sidewalk.”
― M.S.M. Barkawitz

“A long walk. A very long walk. Sand between my toes. The rough surf at times reaching and washing away my footprints. About a mile down the beach, I sat down and started thinking back through everything Vance had told me so far. Thought about what my next moves would be. Seeing the Asian guy tomorrow and having him snoop would settle one thing in my mind. Did Vance do it or not? Crucial. Until I knew that, I didn’t want to go any further.”
― Behcet Kaya, Body In The Woods

“It was a Sunday morning, a perfect day for fishing. I had asked several other guys, but knew they all had their own plans. To everyone else, it was just another day of fishing.”
― Behcet Kaya, Murder on the Naval Base

“It was easy to make the obvious leap that the money was supposed to be my fee for whatever Lillian Holler wanted to expose. Sometimes my clients come with prepayment. I still questioned why she had picked me and how she had found me. But she was a wealthy woman and wealthy women have ways of finding out whatever it is they want to know.”
― Behcet Kaya, Treacherous Estate

“And he never asked you about it?”
“No, he never asked. If he had, I’m still not sure I would have told him.”
“Told him what?”
“That is was his baby.”
― Behcet Kaya, Body In The Woods

“So why not a woman, too—if I was dating her?”
― M S M Barkawitz, Feeling Lucky

“What the hell, Jack? What the hell were you doing back there? Cool the hell off. You’re used to people staring. Get a grip, man. Too early to let things get to you.”
― Behcet Kaya, Body In The Woods

“What else can it predict?”
Now the other jocks encircled her like a bullseye.
“Any event with data,” Holly said and really felt the need to leave. This was a set-up.
Big Bob grinned. “Like when I’ll get a date?”
Holly’s smile slid across her face. “Low probability events are hard to forecast.”
“Huh?”
Josh punched his shoulder. “She means, you are not likely to get a date.”
― Michael Grigsby, Segment of One

“You were kind of mean to Brittany,” Holly said.
“Was I? Trying to be protective, I guess. I have a problem with cheerleaders, sorority sisters, gangs, committees, groups, anything pack-related.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, you’re not really a joiner.”
I was never much for cheerleaders or jocks myself, especially in high school. I always knew that kind of popularity was short term, but when you’re a teenager it seemed like the most important thing in the world. But Holly was only twelve.”
― Michael Grigsby, Segment of One

“His cellphone alarm beeped. Now. Who would he nail?
A single target tonight. So, a single bullet in the gun.
David put the crosshairs on one of the guys walking out of the Quick Trip. Tall man, longish hair, scruffy beard. The guy pulled keys from his pocket and the crosshairs settled on his face.
What was next? David pulled the trigger. The back of the guy’s head exploded. A massive wound.
The guy’s friend looked around. The pregnant woman screamed. The black guy ran. The girls hugged each other.
David pulled the trunk lid back down. Clicked and locked. A gentle walkway wound around the mall. Sol slowly drove away.
David’s breaths came fast, almost pants. He then took his black pants off and removed his soiled underwear. He reached in the plastic bag for the fresh pair. Changing in the trunk of a dark and hot and moving car was difficult. Just part of the job now.
When he pulled the trigger, he orgasmed. Always did.
David slowed his breathing. Taylor series for ex = 1 + x + X2 / 2! + X3 / 3! etc.
Yes, that was better.
He closed his eyes and let go of the rope and let the rifle roll to one side. That guy’s head exploded.
They drove away, below the speed limit. Didn’t want to attract attention. No need to, in no hurry.”
― Michael Grigsby

“I rode a streetcar to the edge of the city limits, then I started to walk, swinging the old thumb whenever I saw a car coming.”
― Jim Thompson

“Isn’t there something I can talk about that won’t remind you that you wish you were dead?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said.”
― Horace McCoy, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

“His eyes burned yellowly.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“We are all born equal until such time as we or a group chooses not to be equal; then I the avatar of vengeance will come for you." - Bishop Kincaid

Taken from From the Paranormal Case Files of Bishop Kincaid, "The Rembrandt Stratagem" by Kellie Austin”
― Kellie Austin, From The Paranormal Case Files of Bishop Kincaid: The Rembrandt Stratagem

“...guardavo se ci fosse o meno un degno erede del Rabdomante, ma non lo trovai.”
― Angelo Bandiziol, Il segreto della Vedova Nera

“Pindar, prima di fare il professore di inglese, aveva passato la vita su cargo, bananiere, petroliere… insomma, se si parlava di una nave enorme che finiva in -iera, lui c’era.”
― Angelo Bandiziol, Il segreto della Vedova Nera

“Se hai un dubbio, toglitelo: meglio vivere con un rimorso piuttosto che con un rimpianto.”
― Angelo Bandiziol, Il segreto della Vedova Nera

“That was the grand bargain with evil. No wrong ever got righted, any more than a hangman’s rope was ever unknotted and used as a child’s swing.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“My goal is to live far outside of history as possible. History is a territory where mostly bad things happen to good people.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“Rumors in Thailand don’t have fathers or mothers. They’re orphans of loan sharks, con men, streetwalkers, and fortune tellers. No one claims them until they become legitimate.”
― Christopher G. Moore

“I’d rather go broke giving enemas to house lizards than make money from customers like him. Old George made a fist and thrust it toward the water buffalo mounted on the wall above his head.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Paying Back Jack: A Vincent Calvino Novel

“I’ve heard that you’re in the pain business. I don’t like doing work for that kind of man,” said Vincent Calvino. Casey rolled his neck and a small cracking noise echoed from the bones inside. “If you worked only for people you liked, you wouldn’t cover your rent.”
― Christopher G. Moore

“It was now hard to believe how difficult it had once been to follow a person in Bangkok in a time before smart phones and social media. The new generation demanded to be followed online. It was in their digital blood. A small investment in a few specialized apps, and not even Sherlock Holmes in his most inspired opium dreams could have imagined the possibilities.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“Let me share what I’ve learned about Thai politics. Keep a distance from those doing a victory dance in the end zone unless you understand their game, how it’s scored and how many players each side has. If you can’t figure out the rules of the game, you won’t know when the game has started and when it’s over. Don’t put a bet on a game you don’t understand.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“Thais have a saying about a frog living inside a coconut shell. The frog believes that the world inside the shell is the whole universe. In the private investigation business, Vincent Calvino had clients who like the frog. What they saw from inside their shell blinded them, made them unable to solve a problem. So they hired Calvino. He knew the drill. Shells offered comfort and security. Leaving could be a dangerous business.”
― Christopher G. Moore, The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel

“The Bangkok Comfort Zone - that strip running between Patpong, Soi Cowboy and Nana - was a huge bank of ice, thick as a glacier. Only you had to be around years and years to see and feel the deep chill, and by the time you had it was too late, the glacier had already dragged you under.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Comfort Zone

“All yings are time rats, time bandits. Open their guts and what you find inside their digestive tract are the second and minutes of hundreds of men’s lives. Time cannibals. All those broken minute and hour hands just lying undigested in their stomach. It makes me want to drink.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Cold Hit: A Novel

“Asking if there is corruption in Thailand is like asking if there is dough inside a bakery. Pies and cakes don’t come from heaven and neither do deals and contracts.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Spirit House

“The best crime fiction is not so much a search and rescue mission, but a recovery mission.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Faking It in Bangkok

“HE FELL DOWN HARD—stone-cold dead, next to my feet. It didn’t take much—just a pull of the trigger. The way I figured; a bullet always had its way of settling things. It asked no questions. Just did what it was told. And I hadn’t planned on resolving my disagreement with the Thin Man that way. But he left me no choice. He pulled his Luger, deciding that one of his .28s was the only way to resolve the issue. Trouble was, he missed. But a .22 from my Colt didn’t.”
― Oliver Dean Spencer, The Case of the Runaway Orangutan