John Nettles Quotes

When I was a kid, what captivated me about detective fiction were the puzzles more than the detectives or their enemies. And as I've gotten older, I see a lot of merit in setting your investigative sights higher than figuring out how someone stole Encyclopedia Brown's bicycle.

Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.

I read a lot of 'Nancy Drew' books as a kid and considered myself a bit of an amateur detective.

I've always felt if you followed a real private detective around, it would be boring.

I'm very good at solving mysteries.

To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy.

I often keep my eyes open for bodies. I do. Ever since I was a kid. I think I read too many 'Nancy Drew' books.

Forensics I've always found absolutely fascinating. Anything to do with clues. And checking things out and solving.

I play a detective, very close to myself actually.

I've always loved mysteries, the something there that you didn't know, and with 'Case Histories' I just decide to make that more up-front.

I've always wanted to play a detective. Always loved detective shows, right back to 'Columbo', 'The Rockford Files', 'Starsky & Hutch'.

I think there's part of me that's longing to play a Sherlock Holmes or sort of a House character, like a real detective. Like a real, moody detective. Like a real, sarcastic, mentally ill detective. I think it would be really fun to do something like that.

He just waited until I stopped talking and said, 'Jesus, kid, you're almost a detective. All you need now is a gun, a gut, and three ex-wives. So what's your theory?

Detective stories keep alive a view of the world which ought to be true. Of course people read them for fun ... But underneath they feed a hunger for justice ... you offer to divert them, and you show them by stealth the orderly world in which we should all try to be living.

Trying to be Sherlock Holmes is like trying to catch an arrow in mid-flight.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.

I'll always do 'Sherlock' - it's something I'm not going to give up on.

I think seeing some of the past can be helpful, especially if you're into crime solving.

In the same way he's fascinated by crosswords, the puzzle of solving the murder is what drives him on.

More than 100 years after he first appeared, Holmes remains the template for the fictional detective.

I was the weirdest kid: I wanted to see the police file - in grade school! I was convinced I could crack the case if I just had that file.

The old detective story that's got a really complicated motive doesn't apply to mine.

What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.

I know nothing about mysteries. I don't take to them.

I loved Sherlock Holmes as a kid, but I remember being disappointed when he'd come up with these simple explanations for these complex mysteries.