I will be on the lookout for you, my dear girl," he wrote. "You must expect to give yourself up when you come." For this buttoned-up age, for Burnham, it was a letter that could have steamed itself open.

— Erik Larson

Murder was a fascination as always.

— Erik Larson

My between-books strategy was reading voraciously and on a whim.

— Erik Larson

My prophetic task would be twofold: to stand up to him, and to stand by him. To awaken his conscience, and to salve the pain this would cause him.

— Erik Larson

New York's perennial attraction was shopping.

— Erik Larson

No one cared what St. Louis thought, although the city got a wink for pluck.

— Erik Larson

One question that often comes up is why, in this age of blogs and tweets and instant digital communication of all kinds, it still takes so long to publish a book.

— Erik Larson

The intermittent depression that had shadowed him throughout his adult life was about to envelop him once again.

— Erik Larson

There began to appear before my romantic eyes...a vast and complicated network of espionage, terror, sadism and hate, from which no one, official or private, could escape.

— Erik Larson

There were always those passengers who came aboard bearing grudges against the modern age.

— Erik Larson