Quotessence
Home / Books / Magpie Murders

Magpie Murders

Book by Anthony Horowitz · 4 quotes · Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders, Murder Mystery

Filter quotes by topic

AllAnthony HorowitzMagpie MurdersMurder MysteryGenre ConventionsHumorDetectiveMysteryReferenceAgatha ChristieAllusionAnglophileBig RevealBlurredBondingBooksCodeDeathDescriptionDetective NovelDetective Stories

Magpie Murders Quotes

“I had chosen to play the detective—and if there is one thing that unites all the detectives I've ever read about, it's their inherent loneliness. The suspects know each other. They may well be family or friends. But the detective is always the outsider. He asks the necessary questions but he doesn't actually form a relationship with anyone. He doesn't trust them, and they in turn are afraid of him. It's a relationship based entirely on deception and it's one that, ultimately, goes nowhere. Once the killer has been identified, the detective leaves and is never seen again. In fact, everyone is glad to see the back of him.”

LonelinessSuspectsMurder MysteryLonerDetectiveOutsiderAnthony HorowitzMagpie MurdersGenre Conventions
Book:Magpie Murders
Create image

“In a whodunnit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it as a quite natural occurrence. They pack their bags and head off to ask questions, collect clues, ultimately to make an arrest. But I wasn't a detective. I was an editor—and, until a week ago, not a single one of my acquaintances had managed to die in an unusual and violent manner. Apart from my own parents and Alan, I hardly knew anyone who had died at all. It's strange when you think about it. There are hundreds and hundreds of murders in books and television. It would be hard for narrative fiction to survive without them. And yet there are almost none in real life, unless you happen to live in the wrong area. Why is it that we have such a need for murder mystery and what is it that attracts us—the crime or the solution? Do we have some primal need of bloodshed because our own lives are so safe, so comfortable? I made a mental note to check out Alan's sales figures in San Pedro Sula in Honduras (the murder capital of the world). It might be that they didn't read him at all.”

Murder MysteryAnthony HorowitzMagpie MurdersGenre ConventionsNarrative Fiction
Book:Magpie Murders
Create image