The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book. - Mickey Spillane

On an ordinary day the corridor would have been filled with the early lunch crowd, but now the emptiness gave the place an eerie feeling, as though I were a trespasser and hidden eyes were watching me. Except that I was the only one there and the single sign of life was the light behind my office door.
I turned the knob, pushed it open and just stood there a second because something was wrong, sure as hell wrong, and the total silence was as loud as a wild scream. I had the .45 in my hand, crouched and edged to one side, listening, waiting, watching.

I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.

Guys like you can't escape the city. Hell, you a got a blood contract with this place. You're married to the old girl.