Unnatural death

Overheard “_The death was certainly sudden, unexpected, and to me mysterious._” _Letter from Dr. Paterson to the Registrar in the case of Reg. v. ...

Miching Mallecho “_By the pricking of my thumbs_ _Something evil this way comes._” _Macbeth_ The April night was cle...

A Use for Spinsters “_There are two million more females than males in England and Wales! And this is an awe-inspiring circumstance._” ...

A Bit Mental “_A babbled of green fields._” _King Henry V_ _Letter from Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson to Lord Peter Wim...

Gossip “_With vollies of eternal babble._” Butler, _Hudibras_ “So you are thinking of coming to live in Leahampton,” said Miss ...

Found Dead “_Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies._” Chapman, _The Widow’s Tears_ “You know, Wimsey, I think you’ve found a mare...

Ham and Brandy “_Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are._” Brillat-Savarin “Well,” said Wimsey, as Parker was...

Concerning Crime “_Society is at the mercy of a murderer who is remorseless,_ _who takes no accomplices and who keeps his head._” Edmund Pearson, _...

The Will “_Our wills are ours to make them thine._” Tennyson, _In Memoriam_ “Hullo! hullo—ullo! oh, operator, shall I call thee bird...

THE LEGAL PROBLEM “_The gladsome light of jurisprudence._” Sir Edward Coke NOTE—A genealogical table is printed at the...

The Will Again “_The will! the will! We will hear Caesar’s will!_” _Julius Caesar_ “Oh, Miss Evelyn, my dear, oh, poor dear!...

Cross-Roads “_Patience—and shuffle the cards._” _Don Quixote_ Lord Peter took Mrs. Cropper down to Christchurch and return...

A Tale of Two Spinsters “_The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it._” ...

Hallelujah “_Our ancestors are very good kind of folks, but they are the last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with._” ...

Sharp Quillets of the Low “_Things done without example—in their issue Are to be feared._” _Henry VIII_, 1, 2 “Murbles is com...

Temptation of St. Peter Pierrot: “_Scaramel, I am tempted._” Scaramel: “_Always yield to temptation._” L. Housman, _Prunella_ As ...

A Cast-Iron Alibi “_Oh, Sammy, Sammy, why vorn’t there an alleybi?_” _Pickwick Papers_ Miss Whittaker and the youngest Mi...

The Country Lawyer’s Story “_And he that gives us in these days new lords may give us new laws._” Wither, _Contented Man’s Morrice_ _Le...

The London Lawyer’s Story “_I who am given to novel-reading, how often have I gone out with the doctor when the stranger has summoned him to visit the unknown patient in the...

THE MEDICO-LEGAL PROBLEM “_There’s not a crime But takes its proper change out still in crime If once rung on the counter of this world._” ...

Gone Away “_There is nothing good or evil save in the will._” Epictetus “You will not, I imagine, deny,” observed...

Murder Siegfried: “_What does this mean?_” Isbrand: “_A pretty piece of kidnapping, that’s all._” Beddoes, _Death’s Jest-Book_ Parker, ...

By What Means? “_Death hath so many doors to let out life._” Beaumont and Fletcher, _Custom of the Country_ The doctor turned out to be a plumpish, fussy m...

A Case of Conscience _“I know thou art religious,_ _And hast a thing within thee called conscience,_ _With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies_ _Which I have seen th...

—And Smote Him, Thus “_’Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door;_ _but ’tis enough, ’twill serve._” _Romeo and...