There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands.
—The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple's first appearance)
"[Miss Climpson] is my ears and tongue,” said Lord Peter, dramatically, “and especially my nose. She asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush. [...] People want questions asked. Whom do they send? A man with large flat feet and a notebook—the sort of man whose private life is conducted in a series of inarticulate grunts. I send a lady with a long, woolly jumper on knitting-needles and jingly things round her neck. Of course she asks questions—everyone expects it. Nobody is surprised. Nobody is alarmed."
— Lord Peter Wimsey, Unnatural Death
" Miss Marple. She's not going to frighten The Yardies is she? 'Leroy, give her the gun, she have a hat!'"
