1.   A new year without Sylvie, Katherine thought with a mixture of guilt and jubilation.

2.   Good or evil ... These were considered old-fashioned terms in a morally rudderless society, Trent thought with more sadness than bitterness.

3.   How can I think straight with you talking all the time?

4.   Instead his handshake was firm but controlled - like everything else about him, she thought with a sudden rush of insight.

5.   Of course, she thought with a stab at realism, all this could apply to anyone.

6.   Perhaps, he thought with sudden abandon, he should give Edith Mallory a ring this very moment and express his thanks.

7.   She could of course, she thought with that sudden burst of adolescent enthusiasm, not live.

8.   She wondered if she could think with what was left of her grey matter.

9.   Some one, I thought with illumination, who knew how easily Olympia had died from hands round the neck.