Miss Marple: An Infernal Machine

[smallhobbit]

Title: An Infernal Machine
Fandom: Miss Marple
Rating: G

Inspector Slack did not care for the telephone.  It was occasionally useful, as when someone called with new information, or the doctor phoned with the result of the post mortem, although ‘death due to head trauma caused by a blunt instrument’ didn’t really tell him more than he already knew.  But usually it was the Superintendent wanting to know how much progress had been made, or Lake to say that yet another lead was a dead end.  Or, as now, it was an elderly lady who was saying, “Inspector, I was wondering if I might have a word with you.”

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes. I can see this. My father had a strange hatred for the telephone, too. Disproportionate to the device, I think.

[smallhobbit]

Slack would be happy without it. My normal reaction if our landline rings is 'Who are you and what do you want?' unless I recognise the daughter's number.

[romanajo123]

Oh neat! :)

(Most of my exposure to this series is the TV version, but I can feel his annoyance with the phone.
My reaction to getting a call on the landline is typically to ask who it is, then decide to hang up

[smallhobbit]

I'm definitely influenced by the Joan Hickson tv series, but generally I can see the phone as being more annoyance than of use. There are very few calls I want to receive - our daughter uses the landline if she wants to speak to one of us, but isn't bothered who answers.