She opened her mouth like a firebucket and laughed. That terminated my interest in her. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and y…

When I got home I mixed a stiff one and stood by the open window in the living room and sipped it and listened to the groundswell of traffic on Lauren Canyon B…

Nor is it any part of my thesis to maintain that it [the detective story] is a vital and significant form of art. There are no vital and significant forms of a…

Do not judge your fellow man until you have come into his situation.

Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.

My folks were always putting her down (down, down) Because her laundry came back brown (brown, brown) I don't care if they think she's bad I fell in love cuz s…