"You're not forgetting, I suppose," said Parker, rather dryly, "that before pinning down a murder to any particular motive, it is usual to ascertain that a murder has been committed? So far, all we know is that, after a careful post-mortem analysis, two qualified doctors have agreed that Miss Dawson died a natural death."
"I wish you wouldn't keep on saying the same thing, Charles. It bores me so. It's like the Raven never flitting which, as the poet observes, still is sitting, still is sitting, inviting one to heave the pallid bust of Pallas at him and have done with it. You wait till I publish my epoch-making work: The Murderer's Vade-Medum, or 101 Ways of Causing Sudden Death. That'll show you I'm not a man to be trifled with."
"Oh, well!" said Parker.
But he saw the Chief Commissioner next morning and reported that he was at last disposed to take the Dawson case seriously.
(from Unnatural Death, by Dorothy L. Sayers)
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