Introduction to the Setting

“The taxi, under the severe eye of a politician, revolved by slow jerks, with a noise like the grinding of teeth. The block of new, perfect and expensive flats in which Lord Peter dwelt upon the second floor, stood directly opposite the Green Park, in a spot for many years occupied by the skeleton of a frustrate commercial enterprise. As Lord Peter let himself in he heard his man’s voice in the library, uplifted in that throttled stridency peculiar to well-trained persons using the telephone.”

-Sayers, Whose Body, p. 9

I took notice of the description of the setting. Such as the taxi being under watch, which I found interesting, including the noise of it “like grinding teeth”. The word skeleton sticks out to me as well, showing the age of the commercial enterprise and insinuating that it is desolate.