The Castlemaine Murders Quotes

“Conversation is a minefield until you learn the conventions, Jane dear.’
‘I’ll never learn all the rules,’ muttered Jane.
‘Yes, you will,’ said Phryne. ‘Then you can bend them. The best advice I would give you is, “If under attack, cause a diversion”.’
‘A diversion?’
‘Yes, trip over the dog, spill a glass of wine on your attacker, burst into song, challenge your attacker to a duel. And the angrier you get, the lower your voice should be. Never shout unless you are shouting “Fire!”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“One only has a few fragrant nights of spring. Store your memories for when you are old. You will enjoy them again under such a moon as this.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“Never trust a man who bites the heads off chickens is probably a good sound rule of practice.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“My dear, the furniture is all castoffs. No point in having good furniture if you have children. One would be forever telling them not to bounce on the couch. Too fatiguing for me and too irritating for them.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“But if the space is empty, it will be filled. Heaven does not allow empty spaces.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“of course, and then the princes and the royal dukes. Then ordinary dukes. Then we have marquess and marchioness, earl and countess, viscount and viscountess, baron and baroness, all of whom are addressed as my lord and my lady, then baronets and knights, called Sir, whose ladies are just called Lady. That is why my friend is called Lady Alice and Phryne”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“Mr. Butler poured the wine, a straw-coloured hock from South Australia, where the vines had been tended in German, which made them pay attention and get on with growing and producing Rhine quality wine, alsbalt!”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“Jane bit her lip. ‘You’re thinking about Mrs. Behan, aren’t you?’ she asked. ‘I did apologise.’ ‘I know, and that the question of the real colour of her hair was only to be expected if one insists on dyeing grey-brown hair that very metallic shade of red. But it’s a known middle-class fact that ladies do not dye their hair. Only actresses and prostitutes dye their hair.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“When you see a rich man’s wife shaking her head over the thriftlessness of the poor because they do not save, pity the lady’s ignorance; but do not irritate the poor by repeating her nonsense to them. —George Bernard Shaw The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“Li Pen”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“When you see a rich man’s wife shaking her head
over the thriftlessness of the poor
because they do not save,
pity the lady’s ignorance;
but do not irritate the poor
by repeating her nonsense to them. George Bernard Shaw
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide
to Socialism and Capitalism”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“Plump pink prawns studded the seafood aspic as thickly as daisies in a springtime meadow.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“A horsehair sofa of uncompromising firmness sat next to two straight-backed, hard-seated chairs.”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders

“When you see a rich man’s wife shaking her head over the thriftlessness of the poor because they do not save, pity the lady’s ignorance; but do not irritate the poor by repeating her nonsense to them. George Bernard Shaw The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism”
― Kerry Greenwood, The Castlemaine Murders