Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One Quotes

“as I drove away from the Spartan I flashed my chrome happily at a two-year-old Chevy parked around the corner on Clinton. On Sunset Boulevard I turned right and headed for Lyle's, where I often have my meager breakfast when I'm too lazy to cook my own mush.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“hilltop home on Durand Drive behind Hollywood,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Manuel Guzmán Boulevard,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I'm the boy who's going to glom onto this junk—if I'm lucky.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“moved down to her waist. She slid up against my body like a fluid, her lips parted and her head thrown back as I found her mouth with mine and strained her to me. We clung to each other, our bodies molding together until she pulled her lips from mine. For a moment, she looked up into my face, silently, then her hand went behind my head and pulled it down to hers again. Last night, when I had looked at her she had seemed beautiful and cool, relaxed and almost lethargic in her movements. She was different now, close against me, her long body moving hungrily, her lips searching my mouth and her tongue darting and curling. I slid my hands over the swell of her hips, up the arching curve of her back and gripped the fragile straps at her shoulders. In a moment, she moved away from me, dropped her arms to her sides and let me ease the dress from her shoulders and down over her breasts while she looked at me, breathing through her mouth. When I let go of the cloth and pressed my hands against the smoothness of her, she moved her fingers briefly at the side of the dress, then slid it down over her hips, let it fall and stepped from it, naked, toward me. I picked her up, carried her to the divan and lowered her to it, fumbled with my clothes and then sank to the divan to lie full-length beside her, reaching for her with my lips and my hands and my body. Ayla placed both her palms against my chest and whispered almost inaudibly, "Wait, Shell." For what seemed a long time she held me from her, then she smiled. Her eyes closed. "Hold me. Love me." When I pulled her close her arms went around me and she pressed the length of her body almost violently against mine. Her lips were moist and clinging as they kissed me and pressed against my flesh and nibbled at my skin, and the long fingernails traced fire down my spine. Then she was softness, an incredible softness, every touch of her hands, her breasts, her thighs, a velvet softness, and warmth that swallowed me, enveloped me, for an immeasurable time.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“His office was in the Sprocket Building on Figueroa.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“She lay motionless for a moment with her eyes closed and her breathing rapid and heavy while my lips caressed her throat and descended slowly to the brazen fullness of her bare breasts, my fingertips gentle against the smooth firmness of her thigh and the swelling curve of her hip, and then her fingers dug into my shoulders when my mouth found hers again, and she pressed her teeth into my lips as I caressed the soft, warm, myriad-curved length of her, and then there was only the intimate caress of her tongue against mine, and her fingers clutching at my flesh, and her yielding body writhing against me. I turned on the small table lamp at the side of the bed and lit two cigarettes for us”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“thought some more about Isabel and what she was up against and, even though, I knew she deserved anything she got from a jury and, even though, there was little chance that she'd be sentenced to death, I couldn't help feeling glad they used gas for executions in Nevada.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“The Inferno was the newest and most fabulous of all the fabulous luxury hotels and casinos in what the home folks themselves refer to as Fabulous Las Vegas. The word when applied to the Inferno was no Hollywood superlative; it was an apt description. It was between the Desert Inn and the Flamingo on the desert end of the Strip. The building was huge, surrounded by twenty acres of landscaped grounds and parking space, and fronted with ten thousand square feet of velvety green lawn.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“She drove downtown and turned left off Fifth Street into East Fremont Street. Up ahead was what most people think of when Las Vegas is mentioned. It was a blaze of lights and color and neon: gambling halls jammed up against each other on both sides of Fremont from Second on up to Main, for two solid blocks. Overshadowing all the rest was the big sign above the Golden Nugget on the left and, beyond that, the huge mechanical cowboy pointed the way to the Pioneer Club with his animated hand and thumb. And the Las Vegas Club, the Monte Carlo, the Frontier Club, and all the rest. Colleen drove through slowly because the place was full of men and women and cowboys. A guy blew a bugle at us as we crossed First Street and we had to wait a few seconds for a man on a horse to get out of our way at Main where Colleen turned right and then swung back to head out of town. Then she drove like the wind all the way to Hoover Dam.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“there wasn't anything beyond the Flamingo except desert and McCarran Field.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Henry Miller's "Air-Conditioned Nightmare”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I parked my Cad around the corner on Olive Street, walked down Seventh to the middle of the block, then took a left. I walked between the shoe store on my left and the cafeteria on my right, into the alley about twenty feet, and stopped right in front of the elevator door. The elevator was there on my right; all I had to do was climb inside and be merrily on my way.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Nichols Canyon Road winds up into the hills north of Hollywood, twisting and turning like a tortured snake, and the occasional houses perch on the tops of”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I dug into my coat pocket and hauled out my pride and joy: one Zippo "one-zip windproof lighter" that the winds of the last few days had forced me to buy. I guess the ads had sold me: "Why, zip, zip, zip. . .when one zip does it!”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“He said with utter weariness, "That bastard Brane had me where Mamie wore the beads. And he kept pushing me; he was greedy and I was sick of the whole mess I'd got into.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I caught a couple of landmarks and knew we were on Benedict Canyon Drive, getting up into the hills. I'd driven here several times before—in happier days—and I knew almost all the road. It was hilly along here and there were steep clifflike drops and sloping ones. Maybe Dutch would let me jump off a cliff. Suicide. I strained at the rope on my wrists, but it was tight.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I was supposed to be the captain of this damn rocket ship and I was sure going to clobber the guy that tied me out on the nose of the thing. Here we were going through space a million miles an hour and we were pointed right at the moon and we were going to crash for sure and my head wasn't that hard. I had a pretty good idea what would happen when the moon and I met head on.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I headed for Constanza's place on Doheny Road, a couple of miles or so from where I was, but I wasn't as eager as I'd been a few minutes before. If Constanza had a gun, I'd better go in waving my white handkerchief. About half a mile from her place, I figured that I'd just drive up, park, and walk up like a traveling salesman, grinning and looking as pleasant as possible. I'd make it quick and be out of there in fifteen minutes. I was anxious to get to Wandra's. There was a little hitch in my plans. I turned off Sunset and was almost at the end of curving Loma Vista Drive, where it meets Doheny Road at the big Doheny Ranch, when the windshield splintered”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Frank Harris' My Life and Loves.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“The Georgian Hotel was clean and out of town a bit, on Hoover Street near Venice Boulevard. I'd made sure we weren't followed and Hallie registered as Miss Amelia Banner. The Amelia was my idea. I went up with Hallie, got a leer”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“managed a hamburger and malt at a Spring Street cafe, then found a spot between Third and Fourth on Broadway to park my sick-yellow Cadillac. I squeezed into the slot, stuck a nickel in the parking meter, and walked ten steps to the Hamilton Building wherein resides Sheldon Scott, Investigations, one flight up.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I parked my distinctive Cadillac—I say distinctive not because it's beautiful but because it's a '41 convertible painted a God-awful yellow—across the street from the Spartan Apartment Hotel. I smoked a cigarette while I worried, then flipped the butt carelessly in the general direction of the well-kept grounds of the Wilshire Country Club. That's how mean I felt.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“I watched the proceedings from across the room while Cleopatra babbled at me. She was pretty drunk. Finally, I got what she was burbling: "Wild Party." You know, the thing in verse about a party that's quite a ball itself. She must have spent a lot of lonely nights memorizing that one.”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“Ay! Es un perro y va a morir! Le sacaré los ojos con las uñas! Lo mataré! Voy a—”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“The only car in sight was just turning into Chavez Ravine Road and traveling fast. All I could see was the taillight,”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One

“pulled out into the Chavez Ravine Road, headed toward Elysian Park Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. We'd driven”
― Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One