The Perils of Death

[billy]

"'Nobody looks at a chauffeur the way they look at a person.'" - Agatha Christie, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

As a child I only read mystery books.
The classic kind written by the upper classes,
well-bred wives and academics
who passed the time on rainy days
devising puzzle narratives. The scholar's wordsearch.

Death never seemed so brittle exceptional line
as when it took place during afternoon tea,
beneath a perfect summer sky while the cricketers
took up their stumps and walked home,
the sound of the church bells spurring them on. i love this scene

All you needed to know about a person
they told you through the clothes they wore. would 'were' be better than the 1st 'they'
The images of decadence forming a constellation with
intellect and soul. If someone tells you
the butler did it, in every novel, don't believe them. 'in every novel',would that ever happen? is it needed?

The butler wouldn't be clever enough. Nor would
the nanny, the groundskeeper, or anyone
raised to bow and scrape. Looking back
through the lens of new attitudes, another good line
I scorn such snobbery. I am more sophisticated. i love the irony of this line. great verse, superb

These stories which care nothing for human insight
should be locked away by now, with my train set is by now needed?
and my teddy bear. But still they transcend my liberal's mind.
How great to react to the perils of death not with fear
but discontent, as you wonder what the neighbours will think. great ending

i only had a couple of nits on what is for me a great little poem.
i never got into the agatha syndrome though i did watch a few on the tv.
i can hear the leather hit the bat as the vicar dies from a dose of deadly nightshade.

such a lot to like about this light hearted take on the well educated novelist.
thanks for the read