Death by Water

platypuses irresistible proof that God likes a joke as much as anyone else. ‘A platypus is intrinsically much less likely than a unicorn or a sea serpent.

She had always found platypuses irresistible proof that God likes a joke as much as anyone else.

I hate these wife-beating bastards. Got to be something wrong with someone who has to hit women.

There’s a nasty story…’ Dot began. ‘Do tell,’ encouraged Phryne.

He could pass off the inferior bottles on tables seven and four. Table seven knew nothing of wine, sending back a bottle of Riesling as "corked" because it had bits of cork in it, the imbeciles. Table four had gulped down a very special old pale brandy as though it was common wood alcohol, which was probably what they had been drinking because they had said that his brandy lacked bite. They deserved inferior burgundy. The bottles that had been stored too close to the stove might have enough bite by now for table four. A wine waiter's revenge may be long in coming, but it arrives in the end.