Billy Boyle Quotes

“There it was, a sign above a shop that said 221B BAKER STREET. My mouth hung open. I looked around at the ordinary street and the white-painted buildings, looking clean in the morning rain. Where were the fog, the streetlights, the gray atmosphere? The horses pulling carriages, bringing troubled clients to Watson and Holmes? I had to admit I had been impressed with Big Ben and all, but for a kid who had devoured the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this was really something. I was on Baker Street, driving by the rooms of Holmes and Watson! I sort of wished it were all in black and white and gray, like in the movies.”
― James R. Benn, Billy Boyle

“I kicked off my shoes, tossed my jacket onto the chair, loosened my tie, and closed my eyes for about half an hour. Catnaps and spy chasing are my specialties.”
― James R. Benn, Billy Boyle

“File cabinets were closed with determined thuds like mortar rounds going off, and the rapid chatter of typewriter keys sounded like machine guns strafing the paper into submission.”
― James R. Benn, Billy Boyle

“Watching Dad figure things out was like watching an artist paint a picture. He used to say an investigation was a lot like art, just a blank canvas and a whole lot of different colors in little jars. All the clues were there, just like a painting was already in those little jars of paint. But you had to mix them together and put them on the canvas right, so it all made sense.”
― James R. Benn, Billy Boyle

“Just like I was hooked the first time I worked a homicide. I knew then that I was different from everyone else, set apart from the concerns of everydy life that swept everyone else forward, on a river of errands, work, dates, drinking, eating, and sleeping. I was going in a different direction, toward revelation and retribution, and here were damn few of us headed that way.”
― James R. Benn, Billy Boyle