A Rhyme to Kill

Much to my surprise, the crime-fiction limericks continue to trickle in. Our first offering today comes from Scotland’s own Calum Macleod, an ex-columnist for Sherlock magazine and a contributor to the e-zine Shots. “Thought you needed a limerick about a Brit detective to balance up the ones about Americans and Belgians. And it’s topical,” he writes, by way of introducing his delightful “Elegy for Inspector Rebus”:

An Edinburgh inspector called John
Used to work here, but now he’s gone.
Told him: “Here’s your fare for the bus,
Now don’t make a fuss.
We’ve given your desk to Siobhan.”

Next comes this “attempted limerick” from Gabriella Papic of Toronto, Canada:

Needing poison, our killer, a rube
Tried luring a scorpion with an orange ju-jube.
But the critter preferred licorice all-sorts
And stung the man round the back of his gym shorts.
You can catch the whole thing on YouTube.

Think you can do better? We’ll see. Send your submissions here.