- Mrs. Murdock: When I say 10 o'clock, I don't mean 9:50, not 9:59, I mean 10 o'clock!
- Michael Shayne: Well, Mrs. Murdoch, you know what the book says about the early bird.
- Mrs. Murdock: There are no worms here.
- Michael Shayne: Well, you can't tell what you're liable to find in an old barn like this.
- Mrs. Murdock: Oh, you're not quite what I expected, Mr. Shayne.
- Michael Shayne: Well, what did you expect - top hat, striped trousers and cutaway?
- Mrs. Murdock: Hardly - something fat and exported with dirty fingernails chewing on a filthy cigar butt and with its hat on its head.
- [Mrs. Murdoch suspects her gold-digging daughter-in-law of stealing and selling one of her most valuable coins]
- Michael Shayne: So what's worrying you the most?
- Mrs. Murdock: Both. I'm hiring you to get the doubloon back and arrange for a divorce for my son without cost to me.
- Michael Shayne: Suppose she didn't take it?
- Mrs. Murdock: I expect you to prove that she did and I'm asking no questions.
- Michael Shayne: [to Murdoch] Well, business is really picking up when the worm comes to the early bird.
- Michael Shayne: Is Mrs. Morny in?
- Morny's Houseboy: She's not home.
- Michael Shayne: Wait a minute. How do you know if you don't ask her?
- Morny's Houseboy: She already told me.
- Michael Shayne: Oh, by the way, what did she look like?
- Elisha Washburn: She?
- Michael Shayne: Well, all right then. What did *he* look like?
- Elisha Washburn: Oh, you mean the party that sold me the doubloon?
- Michael Shayne: Yeah.
- Elisha Washburn: Well, let me see... He was middle-aged, heavy set, about 5'7", weighing about 175 pounds. He wore a blue suit, black shoes, green tie and brown-bordered handkerchief. His hair was gray. There was a mole on his nose and a long scar...
- Michael Shayne: What about that hole in his right sock?
- Elisha Washburn: I neglected to remove his shoes.
- Lt. Breeze: And don't leave town. We want a statement!
- Michael Shayne: You can have the one the bank sent me. You'll get a great laugh out of that.
- Michael Shayne: There you are. All this extra service I throw in free.
- Linda Conquest Murdock: You know, you're not a bad brand of trouble, Mike. I'm sorry our friendship has to be so short.
- Michael Shayne: What do you mean short? As long as I think you have the doubloon, I have to keep an eye on you.
- Linda Conquest Murdock: Then you don't believe me?
- Michael Shayne: Nope. You see, my mama told me never to trust a beautiful woman any further than I could throw her and I don't know how far that is now.
- Lt. Breeze: All right. Come on, Shayne, I'm anxious to hear all about it.
- Michael Shayne: You better take a look in there.
- Lt. Breeze: Oh yeah? Sight unseen, I'll lay odds somebody's dead.
- [last lines]
- Michael Shayne: Say, how long are you going to be in Reno?
- Linda Conquest Murdock: Just six weeks.
- Michael Shayne: That's swell. I'll give you a ring the moment you get back to town.
- Linda Conquest Murdock: You will? I may hold you to that.
- Michael Shayne: To what?
- Linda Conquest Murdock: I have a first class witness in Lieutenant Breeze that you're going to marry me. Driver, Union Depot, please.
- Michael Shayne: Hey, wait a minute. You can't do that to me!... Or can she?
- [first lines]
- [Mike is speaking on the phone to a potential client with his feet propped on his desk revealing the holes in the soles of his shoes]
- Michael Shayne: You want what? Oh, references. Well, sure, I'd glad to give you some references. You can call Senator Hugh Oglethorpe - no, no, no, you'd better not. I beat Hughie playing golf yesterday. You can call Sid Dreyfuss. Mm-hmm. That's Judge Sidney Dreyfuss, yeah - the State Supreme Court. Oh, that reminds me; I'm supposed to have dinner with him tonight. Pardon me while I make a note of that, will you?
- [Murdoch enters Morny's club at the end of a fistfight]
- Leslie Murdock: Well, I see the slaughter has started already. Sorry I'm late.
- Alexander Morny: You're too early to suit me. Get out and stay out.
- Leslie Murdock: I was under the impression that your trap was open to the public.
- Alexander Morny: It's not open to rats.