dennis scharnberg

“My wants are few and simple,” said Watson.

Doyle Tatum,  The Holmesian Way.

“At least he had the common decency to use a ball peen hammer instead of a claw hammer,” declared Rawlings.  “The latter would have been unseemly.”

Kiefer Sythe,  The Detective Club.

Trivializing is so commonplace in the internet era that we tend to forget how devastating it can be.

Roger Hedgecook,  Stolen and Sold for Parts.

The media exist to tell us who is sensitive and who isn’t, who cares and who doesn’t, and who is good and who is not.  Our job is to believe all of it.

Christopher Allyn,  Militant Vulgarity.

“I am going away, James.”  Those were her words.  Solemn, magical words.

Nicholas Crisp,  Unfit for Murder.

“History should have arranged itself to suit me” is what Fitzwilliam must have been thinking.

Trent Bendix,  Grieving for Margaret.

“The more we enable (or prod) people to express themselves, the more commonplace lying will become.”  Benjamin quoted this proposition several times that evening, and he referred to it as Van der Weyden’s Law.

Jed Honneger,  The Barca Boys.

Timothy’s shock was merely for show.  And some of us knew it.

Allison Cowling,  Night of the Detective.

To them, it doesn’t seem like a conscious decision.  But it is.

Hampton Fancher,  Variations on the Red Barn Con.

“But he is not special, Glenda.”  Michael was showing his impatience again.  “In fact, Jeffrey is ordinary.  Excessively ordinary.”

Alberta Traywick,  Susannah’s Accident.