Yeah. Floyd is his batman."His what?"Batman, like in the British army, each officer had a batman, a personal servant."You spend too much time reading, Spenser. You know more stuff that don't make you money than anybody I know.

...You have any suggestions, make them. I'm in charge but humble. No need to salute when you see me." Fraser said, "Mind if we snicker every once in a while behind your back?" "Hell, no," I said. "Everyone else does.

I took my .38 out and looked to see that there were bullets in all the proper places. I knew there would be, but it did no harm to be careful. And I'd seen Clint Eastwood do it once in the movies.

The thing I like about Irish whiskey is that the more you drink the smoother it goes down. Of course that's probably true of antifreeze as well, but illusion is nearly all we have.

Has anyone ever told you," I said, "that you coalesce reality?""No. They only say that I'm good in the sack.""They are accurate but limited," I said. "And if you give me their names I'll kill them.

How about the wrong crowd," I said. "You getting in with them?""Not much luck," Paul said. "I'm trying like hell, but the wrong crowd doesn't seem to want me.""Don't quit," I said. "You want something, you go after it. I was nearly thirty-five before I could get in with wrong crowd.

We split a bottle of Norman cider. Not everybody sells Norman cider by the bottle. "Has a European feel" Susan said."That sounds terrific" I said. "Can I have one?"Susan grinned at me. "How did you ever get to be so big without growing up?" she said."Iron self-control" I said.

Thank you sir," she said. "I hope that your friend feels better soon."I shrugged. "The ways of the Lord" I said, "are often dark, but never pleasant.