Quotes from Ann Cleeves

Since we found Mrs Lister's body in the pool.

Was anyone else seen in the place? We're especially interested if they made their way down this valley.' She pointed with a ruler to the map and looked around the room to check that she had their full attention. 'This is where Randle's body was found by Percy Douglas.' Another stab at the map. 'And this is the big house where Randle was the temporary house-sitter and where Benton's body was found.' A pause. 'Joe, fill us in

HR manager might be interested in something

I suppose if you love someone, you don´t stop them doing the things that make them happy.

The room wasn't a mess, but there was clutter. Last week's Observer on the arm of a chair, a couple of books on the table.

Perhaps fear in the abstract is worse than facing the immediate reality.

And that brief contact allowed her to believe that her colleagues were wrong. She did have friends. She did have a life away from the job.

I don't have my own life any more.

this was how women fought. With civilized words carrying poison.

Again, Juliet took a while to answer and wondered how much she should tell. But Vera was a witch; she'd find out anyway.

Now, dressing for breakfast, she felt sluggish and tense.

She could make no more demands. He wasn't sure whether the thought pleased or dismayed him.

I'm aware families sit around the telly to watch 'Vera', which is making entertainment out of murder. But I don't enjoy reading about people's pain. I tend to put myself in that position, and it's not somewhere I want to be.

Television is much more collaborative in many ways than prose.

You must never call it the Shetlands. Islanders are proud and can be prickly about the name: it's either Shetland or the Shetland Islands.

Rather than the grey and dreary institutions of public perception, these should be places of innovation and experiment, where readers can take a chance on a book, pick one because they like the look of the cover or the title or because they see it returned by the gorgeous young man who lives in their street. After all, they will have absolutely nothing to lose. The book will be free.

We don't often notice the people who look after us, do we? Though we'd miss them if they weren't there

But she thought the men's brains had turned to jelly. They couldn't see straight. Faced with a pretty woman they all seemed to lose their reason.

like everything, sanity came more easily with practice.

Vera thought for a moment that she might have found a man if she'd scrubbed up a bit better, then decided that no man was worth the time it took to plaster stuff on your face in the morning, when you could have an extra cup of tea instead.

Not unless he crossed the line.' Holly supposed she should let this go, but she was tired of Vera's bullying. 'Ah, that line . . .' Vera leaned back in her chair with her eyes half-closed. 'If only we knew exactly where it was.' There

the hugeness of the world was a pool to dive into, not somewhere to drown.

Was it only possible truly to enjoy something if you knew there was a danger that it might be taken away?

She'd learned that it was important when you were dealing with professional do-gooders to keep calm. Otherwise they judged you. Wrote things like anger-management problems in their reports.