The Blue Dahlia, p. 134 (Afterword)

About "Miss Moronica Lake:"

The only times she's good is when she keeps her mouth shut and looks mysterious.

The Blue Dahlia, p. 28

Just don't get too complicated, Eddie. When a guy gets too complicated he's unhappy. And when he's unhappy--his luck runs out... .

Chandler: [John Houseman: "Lost Fortnight" (The Blue Dahlia, pg. xxi)]

I have had a lot of fun with the American language; it has fascinating idioms, is constantly creative, very much like the English of Shakespeare's time, its slang and argot is wonderful, and so on.

John Houseman: "Lost Fortnight" (The Blue Dahlia, pg. xi)

...the long thin line of La Cienega (before it became the Fifty-seventh Street of the West) stretching directly ahead...

Farewell, My Lovely, 251

At the end he thought and then spoke slowly and what he said had wisps of fog clinging to it, like the beads on a mustache. Maybe that made it seem wiser than it was, maybe not.

"Bay City Blues," p. 241 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

The road twisted, dipped, soared along the flank of the foothills, a scatter of lights to the northwest and a carpet of them to the south. The three piers seemed remote from this point, thin pencils of light laid out on a pad of black velvet.

"Bay City Blues," p. 242 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

The lobby--they called it a foyer--looked like an MGM set for a night club in the Broadway Melody of 1980.

"Bay City Blues," p. 264 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

It was cold up their in the hills, but the air was clear and the stars were like pieces of polished chromium.

"Bay City Blues," p. 278 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

It looked like somebody was going to open up the Austrian Case wide enough for the mayor to think it was a new boulevard and come out with a bunch of flowers and make a speech.

(sounds like some other mayor I know, eh?)

"Mandarin's Jade" p.170 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

--and the general look of a guy who would wear white flannel suit with a violet satin scarf inside the collar.

"Bay City Blues," p. 238 (from Killer in the Rain, 2nd printing)

He giggled from sudden strain and nervousness and shock--very little from amusement.