Oldest Tricks in the Book

[I]t’s the oldest trick in the book to produce false testimony and false witnesses.
—James Clavell, Noble House (1986)

False signaling to a non-existent relief force was the oldest trick in the book.
—Max Adams, Trafalgar’s Lost Hero (2005)

Oldest trick in the book, a limp.
—Ellen Perry Berkeley, Keith’s People (2003)

Security’s not coming, Susan.  We’ve got all the time in the world. . . . Oldest trick in the book.  I faked the call.
—Dan Brown, Digital Fortress (1998)

I saw an amazing gallery of magic-themed linotypes by Kreg Yingst (thanks, Gordon!).  My very favorites are:

the Vanishing Audience, who perhaps escaped through the door marked "Exit"

the Disappearing Rabbit, which takes the form of a playing card and animates if you can spin in the card in your mind

the Floating Finger, which promises the secret (of the optical illusion!) for $9.95.  (I find this hilarious!)

the Cups & Balls, in which the magician is depicted as a two-faced jester, with the bells on his cap resembling balls that he's juggling

the Linking Rings, where the magician's eyeglasses resemble a monocle, which (along with the curl of the mustache) mirror the rings

the Floating Sphere, which resembles an eyeball as the ring goes past it

And I especially love the ones that seemingly reveal a secret of magic:

the entire Card Table hidden in the magician's pocket

the comical Finger Trick, reminiscent of a Mad Magazine gag

the Coin Trick, revealing the secret slot in the magician's head

the Die Box, where the die is shown to dive into the hat

the magician's brain palmed in his hand during the Pencil Penetration

the trapdoor under the hat where the rabbit hides

the Vanishing Elephant who floats up into the stage curtains

and the secret of the Mind Reader, which hypnotizes the viewer to buy a print

We used the oldest ad trick in the book—exaggeration.
—Lazar Dzamic, No Copy Advertising (2001)

The oldest trick in the world: evolution!
—Olivier Arsac, “Darwersi (a Darwinian Reversi)” (1999)

I couldn’t get a feel for what he was hiding or whether he even seemed capable of rape.  Then a technique called “elicitation,” which we were taught at Quantico, popped into my mind.  So I just sprung it on him, as if it were a foregone conclusion: “Well, then, after you raped her what did you do?”
    He came back, without missing a beat, “I went into the bathroom and took a piss.”
    “So that’s where we’ll find your fingerprints?  On the bathroom wall—right?” I asked.
    Realizing that he had just confessed, all he could say was, “Damn.”
    The detectives looked at me as if I had pulled a rabbit out of a hat.  I shrugged—“elicitation” was nothing but the psych-major name for one of the oldest tricks in the book, and we all knew it.  I had almost been embarrassed to give it a try.  But it worked—to my surprise, the guy walked right into it.
—Candice DeLong, Special Agent (2001)

“What did you say your name was?”
    Tim sneered.  Did this bloke think he was as dumb as all that?  He wasn’t going to fall for the oldest trick in the book.
—Carla Jablonski, The Books of Magic 2 (2003)

[Don’t] put him in a position where he has to fight you to defend his own ego.  The oldest trick in the book is working things out so that the boss thinks he suggested what you want.
—Wayne Dyer, Pulling Your Own Strings (1994)

Using the oldest trick in the book, Howard used a dummy in his car to double for him.
—Melissa Boyle Mahle, Denial and Deception (2005)

In one incident, Saul falls for the oldest trick in the book.  Michal puts a pillow and clothes under the blankets and says that David is sick in bed while David escapes out the back (I Samuel 19: 11-17).
—Jeffrey C. Geoghegan, The Bible for Dummies (2002)

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book.  Anyone on River and Lake could have told them to watch out for drugged wine.
—Louis Cha, The Deer and the Cauldron: The Second Book (1999)

—Jonathan Meades, Incest and Morris Dancing (2002)

Popular girls usually gain and keep their power by the oldest trick in the book, divide and rule.
—Julie Burchill, Sugar Rush (2004)

[T]he oldest trick in the book—divide and conquer.
—Victor Darnell Hadnot, The Wheels of God (2003)

It was the oldest trick in the book, when you stripped away all of the mind-bending
 monkey business, it was a diversion!
—George Parker, The Atomic Kid (2003)

Diversion’s the oldest trick in the book. . . . If something in front of you seems really out of character, you should look behind you.
—Karl C. Klein, Makaila’s Legacy (2001)

Quick as a cobra, Sister Wilemina threw her sword.  Not at the man, but straight down between his feet.  The blade hit dirt and vibrated, and Badger’s eyes flew wide.  The oldest trick in the book.  As the pirate was distracted, the archer coiled an arm like an oak branch.  Her knotty fist slammed Badger’s broad brisket and nearly dented his spine.
—Clayton Emery, Jedit (2001)

Denis Dimbleby Bagley:  It's the oldest trick in the book.
Priest on Train:  Book?  What book?
Denis Dimbleby Bagley:  The distortion of truth by association book.
—How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

In nature, one of the oldest tricks in the book is a disguise.
—T. S. Wiley and Bent Formby, Lights Out (2001)

—Deborah Cameron, Verbal Hygiene (1995)

—Bob Garratt, Thin on Top (2003)