Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Claire DeWitt Mysteries #1)

by Sara Gran

“If life gave you answers outright, they would be meaningless. Each detective must take her clues and solve her mysteries for herself. No one can solve your mystery for you; a book cannot tell you the way.”

“NO ONE IS INNOCENT,” Silette wrote. “The only question is, how will you bear your portion of guilt?”

Some people, I saw, had drowned right away. And some people were drowning in slow motion, drowning a little bit at a time, and would be drowning for years. And some people, like Mick, had always been drowning. They just hadn’t known what to call it until now.

‘Be grateful for every scar life inflicts on you.’ He says, ‘Where we’re unhurt is where we are false. Where we’re wounded and healed is where our real self gets to show itself.’ That’s where you get to show who you are.”

There are no coincidences. Just opportunities you’re too dumb to see, doors you’ve been too blind to step through. And for every one you miss there’s some poor fucking soul who’s been left behind, waiting for someone to come along and show him the way out.

“I have great faith,” I said, “in people’s ability to fuck things up without the cops.”