A Quiet Life in the Country Quotes

“What would I do without you?’ I thought for a moment. ‘Starve to death, my lady. In the dark.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It’s abductive reasoning, not deductive. Working from observation to theory is abduction, not deduction.’ ‘But”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Even without Lady Hardcastle’s scientific education I knew that being suspended by the neck on a length of sturdy rope wasn’t conducive to long life.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Opulence without elegance seems to be her motto.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“They even managed to put the books on the shelves.’ She looked closer. ‘I’m not sure I’d have put Charles Dickens next to Isaac Newton except at a dinner party, and then only if Nellie Melba hadn’t turned up, but they’ve done their best.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Oh, she’s one of those fortunate creatures whose heads will never be troubled by the arrival of anything so inconvenient as a structured, logical, or even original thought. Nevertheless,”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“She pays the bills without looking at them. I overheard her talking to one of her friends once. “If one has to worry about the bills,” she says, “one can’t afford them anyway.” So if that’s the way she sees it, I makes sure to slip a little treat in for us now and again.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“And in the centre of the clearing, my dear Florence,’ she was saying, without apparently having broken her conversational stride, ‘we have . . . I say!’ ‘A dead body, my lady?’ I said. ‘I was going to say, “a magnificent English oak”,’ she said, somewhat distractedly, ‘but the body is definitely the more arresting sight.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It’s abductive reasoning, not deductive. Working from observation to theory is abduction, not deduction.’ ‘But I thought—’ ‘Yes, you and so many other people. We know who to blame, of course, and I’ve written to him more than once care of his publisher, but he takes no notice.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Once we were on the road and safely out of earshot she said, ‘Hot, sweet tea, indeed! We shall have a bracing brandy and the devil take the blessed tea.’ We set off for home.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“She had suggested that I open one of the bottles of wine we’d brought from the London flat, but I made do with water. Wine was for sharing.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“A maid with bad knees called Edna—’ ‘She has knees called Edna?”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“he consulted his notebook, ‘Roland Richman’s Ragtime Revue – whatever happened to a good old sing-song round the piano, that’s what I’d like to know?”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“If you say they’re right for us, then they’re right for us. I’ll see them tomorrow when they start work. I want to go out for a walk now.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“should perhaps make allowances. England isn’t all he remembers it to be. I think he has a rather romantic notion of what “Blighty” should be like, and all this has quite shattered his illusions.’ ‘I dare say,’ said the inspector distractedly, as he made some notes in his notebook. There was a knock on the door and Jenkins entered with a tray of coffee, sandwiches, and some shortbread biscuits. ‘Your luncheon, my lady,’ he said, pointedly ignoring the inspector. ‘Mrs Brown thought you might appreciate some biscuits, too.’ ‘She’s very thoughtful, Jenkins,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Please thank her for us.’ ‘Yes, my lady. Will there be anything else?’ ‘No, Jenkins, thank you.’ ‘Very good, my lady,’ he said with a slight bow. He left as quietly as he had entered. Inspector Sunderland seemed to be on the verge of another tirade, but thought better of it and went to pour the coffee instead. ‘Please,’ I said, stepping forward. ‘Allow me.’ ‘Certainly, miss. If you insist.’ ‘Thank you, Inspector,’ I said, as I poured coffee for the two of them. ‘Just doing my duty.’ ‘Don’t show off, Armstrong,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Pour yourself one, too.’ I curtseyed. ‘Thank you, m’lady. You’re very generous to a poor servant”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“His quiet confidence in his authority and abilities left him free to treat everyone around him with calm respect.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It’s abductive reasoning, not deductive. Working from observation to theory is abduction, not deduction.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Are you familiar with the Eastern concept of karma?’ ‘I’ve heard of it, yes. An old sergeant of mine when I was new to the force used to talk about it. “Double Entry Bookkeeping for the Soul”,”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“I’m not sure I’d have put Charles Dickens next to Isaac Newton except at a dinner party, and then only if Nellie Melba hadn’t turned up, but they’ve done their best.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“You know how these chaps can be. They promise to put everything in its place, but then you move in and find that they’ve put the aspidistra in the bedroom and the piano in the kitchen.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“the foot of the servants’ staircase”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“vicar of St Arild’s Church, was the first to call, bearing a rather formidable fruitcake baked in Lady Hardcastle’s honour by his wife who, he assured her, would be calling on her own account within a day or two. A butcher’s boy from Spratt’s called with a note introducing”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“feet while Mickey took care of Addie. Once again we were back in Colonel Dawlish’s tent. Veronica and Wilfred were side-by-side, hand-in-hand on the Colonel’s bed, with Addie beside them, while the Colonel himself,”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“There’s those as would say that London would definitely be England’s murder capital. Others are sure it’s Birmingham, or Manchester, or Liverpool. Some even suggest my own home city of Bristol. There’s a cluster of villages in Oxfordshire that regularly vies for the title, but have a guess where it really is.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“What I’d expected to be an intimate supper with the local landowners turned into some manner of formal introduction to the Great and the Good. Or the local equivalent, at least. The Moderately Significant and the Well-Intentioned, perhaps.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Oh, oh, we can be detectives. You can be Watson to my Holmes.'
'But without the violin and the dangerous drug addiction, my lady,' I said.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“Have we got any lamps? I've grown so accustomed to having electricity in the flat that I completely forgot.'
'All taken care of, my lady,' I said. 'Lamps, oil, candles, matches... all in that tea chest over there.'
'What would I do without you?'
I thought for a moment. 'Starve to death, my lady. In the dark.”
― T.E. Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“It strikes me, Flo, that this fashion for huge hats might have its advantages. What do you think of hiding a Derringer in there?”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“His Majesty’s army is keen on murder and theft only in the name of colonial expansion.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country

“They turn slowly but they grind exceedingly fine is what they do,’ she said. ‘And that’s rather apt. The quality of the flour is still entirely dependent upon the quality of the corn, no matter how thorough the mill. If the courts don’t have all the facts, they can never grind out justice.”
― T E Kinsey, A Quiet Life in the Country