“Very unfortunately, she had no husband. She had never had a husband, and therefore did not kill a husband.”

“An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her.”

“You know, Emily was a selfish old woman in her way. She was very generous, but she always wanted a return. She never let people forget what she had done for them - and, that way she missed love.”

“You do think you know about everything," said her husband. I do," said Tuppence.”

“The amount of missing girls I've had to trace and their family and their friends always say the same thing. 'She was a bright and affectionate disposition and had no men friends'. That's never true. It's unnatural. Girls ought to have men friends. If not, then there's something wrong about them....”

“She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read.”

“Miss Bulstrode had another faculty which demonstrated her superiority over most other women. She could listen.”