If you should stumble across a body in the library

Have you ever read an Agatha Christie novel? If the answer is no, stop reading this blog and start reading one! Visit Project Gutenberg to read "The Secret Adversary."

I love Agatha Christie's mystery novels. There's a murder in every one but no blood, no sex, no violence. All mysteries are solved satisfactorily by Hercule Poirot, using his "little grey cells" or by everyone's favorite aunt, Miss Marple, who looks sweet and fluffy and brainless but by observing the world around her, solves baffling mysteries from her armchair with a cup of tea at her elbow and her knitting in her lap.

So what does this have to do with the peaches above?

Well, dear reader, you are about to be informed.

While cutting up peaches the other day, one split open easily, revealing that the pit had split in two. And inside, as you can see above, is a little seed that looks like an almond. It is deadly. A deadly stowaway in a juicy, inviting piece of fruit.

In many of Christie's novels, the crime is committed, the murder is done, in a bloodless way using just such an innocent looking item.

Did you know that peach and apricot pits contain cyanide? It would require many of these to actually poison someone but .....

Should you ever stumble across a body in the library of an English country estate, or find one in the rose garden of a rectory, be on the alert for the smell of bitter almonds. It is a sure sign of cyanide poisoning!

So, take what you want from this informative post and....

Go read an Agatha Christie book novel!