Original artwork, not a still
Either it's murder, or this library has a very strict overdue policy.
— Homicide: Life on the Street • 1993
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The speaker offers two explanations, with the second making a library's overdue rules absurdly severe. Murder and a strict lending policy are placed side by side as if they were comparable possibilities. That calm framing gives the dark joke its force.
Context reviewed
