- Marty Maxwell: You know, of course, that I've been married four times.
- Michael Shayne: Ah, I've heard rumors.
- Marty Maxwell: Exactly. Well, I'm going to try it again.
- Michael Shayne: Do I offer congratulations or condolences?
- Lucy Hamilton: Mr. Shayne?
- Michael Shayne: That's right.
- Lucy Hamilton: The employment agency sent me. My, we do need help.
- Michael Shayne: Well, sit down, Miss...
- Lucy Hamilton: Lucy. Lucy Carr.
- Michael Shayne: Lucy, huh.
- Lucy Hamilton: I do hope the job isn't taken.
- Michael Shayne: Well, as a matter of fact, it isn't. You, ah, take shorthand, I suppose.
- Lucy Hamilton: A hundred and twenty words a minute.
- Michael Shayne: Well now, that's refreshing. And typing?
- Lucy Hamilton: Eighty five words a minute. I typed my thesis at the university. It's titled, "The Criminal Potential in Our Complex Age". I have it right here.
- Michael Shayne: Oh, I'll take your word for it, Lucy.
- Lucy Hamilton: I'm really very interested in crime and all its aspects, Mr. Shayne.
- Michael Shayne: Well, I'm sure you are, Lucy, but, ah, you see in this business, we sometimes see, well, the seamy side of life. Some of the people we bump into aren't, ah, well, they're not always quite so... nice.
- Lucy Hamilton: I know what you're thinking, Mr. Shayne. You're thinking I'm very young. I'm really not. I know people, Mr. Shayne. I studied sociology and I read the Kinsey Report!
- Michael Shayne: Well, Lucy, with a background like that, how could I say, "No".
- Marty Maxwell: Ginny, I'd like you to meet Mr. Shayne. He's a private investigator.
- Ginny: Really?
- Michael Shayne: But I'm not in uniform tonight.
- Marty Maxwell: I want the gentlemen to meet some of our other guests.
- Ginny: [referring to Maxwell's other ex-wives] Speaking of our other guests, we oughta to form a union.
- Marty Maxwell: Well, it would be the nicest picket line in the world.
- [at a party, Maxwell sits down with his four ex-wives]
- Marty Maxwell: And now, I think we should call our little meeting to order. By the way, we'll dispense with the minutes and go directly to new business.
- Sylvia: Why, Marty, when did you find time to learn Parliamentary procedure?
- Sylvia: You see what I mean? She doesn't know any two-syllable words.
- [Mike's client has been murdered]
- Michael Shayne: I'll do some checking myself. If I find anything, I'll let you know.
- Police Lt. Gentry: Now wait a minute. Since when do you do work without a client?
- Michael Shayne: I was hired yesterday, remember? Marty hired me to protect his life.
- Police Lt. Gentry: He's dead. What can you do?
- Michael Shayne: Cash his check and find his killer.
- Greta: I take it you don't ageee with the police that, how shall I say, Ginny's death wasn't an accident?
- Sylvia: You take it correctly.
- Cathy: I was told she'd been drinking. She could have fallen.
- Sylvia: Oh, come now. If Ginny had fallen every time she'd taken a drink, she couldn't have been able to move... and she had good legs - both of them hollow - but good legs.
- Lawyer: Can't you understand, Greta, that I only did it for you!
- Greta: Oh, how sweet. Nobody does anything for themselves any more. They always do it for somebody else.
- [after Greta slaps the lawyer, the lawyer smacks her in return]
- Greta: My mistake. Only slap gentlemen - the other kind slaps back.