A Man of Some Repute Quotes

“Teeth,’ Richard was saying. ‘They identified him by his dental work. Makes you think, doesn’t it, when all that’s left of a man’s individuality are his fillings.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“I fancy there’s a rod of steel hidden in those tweeds and twinset”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“What’s up?’ he said. ‘Lord help us, sir, there’s something horrible buried under the flagstones.’ For”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Why was he answering her questions? He was trained to hold up under interrogation, but Mrs Partridge had no trouble getting information out of him. Nor out of anyone else, probably. Perhaps she was indeed a witch. ‘So”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“I expect she’s going to be tall, which isn’t necessarily a blessing for a woman, not with so many short men in the world.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“It was a Victorian pile, sprouting turrets and gargoyles with wild abandon, the extravagant creation of a tycoon who’d made a fortune in an earlier and more confident era.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“He watched with fascination as she finished her boiled egg, turned the shell upside down, and returned it to the egg-cup before crushing it into bits with her spoon. ‘Whatever did you do that for?’ Hugo said. ‘To make sure a witch doesn’t take up residence, of course. Don’t you know anything?”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“One was no longer young. Lean, with intense dark eyes, she looked as though she should have been stirring a cauldron.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Guilt is nothing but a moral tale to confuse people who are too stupid to see the consequences of their actions.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“You’re like the man who lost his key. When asked why he was looking in that particular spot for it and was he sure he’d dropped it there, he said, no, he hadn’t dropped it there, but that was where the light was. You’re looking under the light, and you need to investigate the shadows. Begin with the victim.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Mrs Tempest came in with a tray of coffee and biscuits. Hugo had a sense of déjà vu. How often, before setting off on a mission, had he sat in an office with some deskbound superior, drinking weak coffee and eating biscuits. This mission wouldn’t take him to the wild spots of Eastern Europe. Now he was on his way to Room 19 on the top floor of this preposterous Victorian mansion. To a desk of his own, a regulation-size desk with regulation buff folders on it. And he’d no doubt end up with a regulation buff mind.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Friends in London had warned him about life in country towns. ‘You’re never alone for a moment; everybody knows everything about you. If you want privacy, you need to live in a busy street in London where nobody cares what you do. Either that or take root in the depths of the country where you have no neighbours. Poor Hugo, doomed to live in a place like Selchester, where if you go to the lav ten minutes later than usual one morning, your neighbours will comment on it. Still, you’ve got a car so you can nip up to London at the weekend to keep in touch.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Girls don’t know they’ve been born these days.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“His aunt had warned him that Georgia was going through a difficult stage. From his recollection of her, there’d never been a time when she hadn’t been at a difficult stage.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“when violence came stalking even the mildest of men.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Lady Priscilla Veryan was in the garden, attacking weeds with vicious stabs of a hoe.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“You should have a cup of strong tea with lots of sugar. It saw us all through the Blitz. Nothing like it if you’ve had a bit of a shock.’ Vivian”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Dunne’s Experiment with Time”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Guthrie and wasn’t requesting the file through the”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“path that led to the woods, Freya headed down the drive and towards Selchester.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“defectors appeared at the press conference”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Why did you ask that?’ Hugo said. ‘Because he had been threatening me. I won’t go into the details; it was a personal matter. He was planning to ruin me, and he had discovered a means to do it. I gather he’d put private detectives to ferret out”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Charles”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“baize door that had in former times marked the boundary between”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“By the time they reached Selchester, Hugo’s leg hurt like hell. It was a gritted-teeth job, and he struggled not to wince every time he had to change gear. Georgia was sitting beside him; she gave her brother a glance or two but didn’t offer any sympathy. She’d said more than once that since his leg was the way it was, he would just have to get used to it, which practical and pragmatic response to his injury rather pleased him. But at the moment he wasn’t thinking of Georgia, or how he’d injured his leg, or regretting what it had done to him. He was just wondering if he could last out until they got to Selchester Castle and he could climb out of the car. They had stopped on the way, more often than he would have done in the old days, but nonetheless it was a four-hour drive from London and the longest stretch of time behind the wheel he’d attempted since he’d been shot.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“come to stay. He says there”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute

“Start with the victim, that’s where you’d find a motive for murder.”
― Elizabeth Edmondson, A Man of Some Repute