| Wordsworth

This week’s competition called for an opening to a penny-dreadful detective novel, including at least one of these words: pendulous, quixotic, moribund, effervescent, festooned.

Bronwen Gunn of Levin writes: It was the third occasion on which Eddie had found a pair of pendulous bloomers hanging on his fence and a ham sandwich in his letter box.

Auckland’s Rex McGregor tries a kitchen-sink approach: Festooned with pendulous garlands, the corpse appeared more effervescent than the moribund detective, who had long since lost the quixotic ideals of his youth. Also from Rex: Watson pulled off the fake moustache and tore open his corset, revealing pendulous breasts, and said, “Holmes,

I’m a woman.”

Clive Blake of Kerikeri: His head pounded; his usually tidy desk, now festooned with the detritus of half-eaten lunches, mocked his lack of progress, and now his stomach joined the fray with a caustic lurch.

Kaye Bennetts of Whangaparaoa:

The detective opened the file, staring blearily at an empty whisky bottle as he dropped a Berocca tablet into a glass of water, its effervescent hisses and crackles hammering in his ears like gunshots.

But Anne Martin of Helensville takes the prize: Charles Green had always been considered about as effervescent as used engine oil, so his impassive reaction to the news of his wife’s death surprised nobody.

For the next challenge, choose one of the following films and briefly summarise its plot in verse: Titanic, Jurassic Park, Chinatown, Groundhog Day, Rocky. Entries, for the prize below, close at noon, Thursday, July 6.