It can be seen as a strange case of life mirroring Dickens's final artistic efforts - the author's last, unfinished work, TheMystery of Edwin Drood, centred on the suspense of the possibility of a corpse hidden in Rochester Cathedral.
And the way the skinny neck disappeared between the animal's breastplate and shell-a squirming, live thing slipping hidden into dead stony stuff-it seemed suddenly like theMystery of Mysteries, the very source of Life .
But, caught between lawsuits claiming they failed to protect consumers from "hidden" hazards--is there really any mystery about what can happen when you stand on the top of a ladder?