- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: Someone tried to kill me, you know!
- Ellery Queen: Who tried to kill you?
- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: Well, my word! If I knew that, wouldn't I have told that funny little inspector?
- Ellery Queen: That's my father.
- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: Oh. Well, I meant "funny" in a complimentary way. Such a wonderful sense of humor!
- Louise Demery: Queen... Queen! He's not the fella who wrote all the whodunits?
- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: The very same.
- Louise Demery: Oh, my dear - I thought you said he was an author!
- Ellery Queen: Now, I'm pretty sure I know who killed Vera Bethune. How about you? Was it Lawrence Denver, Miss Aggie's co-star, or Anita Leslie, the young actress who was going to replace her? It might have been Wendell Warren, the announcer, and don't forget Mary Lou Gumm was in the studio that morning. Or... it might have been someone else, someone who wasn't in the studio. It's possible.
- Inspector Richard Queen: [on the phone after a popular actress has been murdered] I understand, Your Honor... Your wife, eh?... Well, I guess we all loved her in our own way, sir... Yes, sir, I'm on my way downtown this minute... Thank you, sir.
- [hangs up]
- Inspector Richard Queen: That was the Mayor. His wife is in mourning for Miss Aggie.
- Inspector Richard Queen: As long as we're both going to take this personally, let's find out who did it.
- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: She's my agent.
- Ellery Queen: Oh.
- Vera Bethune, Miss Aggie: Well, you don't have to say it that way, Mr. Queen. We all have to make a living, you know.
- Alvin Burns: [a writer] So we were ready to do what we always do. Stick the old babe in the hospital with a cold. If she plays ball, the cold gets better. If not, pow, double pneumonia and out she goes.