Calling Card (crime)

Calling Card (crime)

A calling card is a particular object sometimes left behind by a criminal at a scene of a crime, often as a way of taunting police or obliquely claiming responsibility. The name is derived from the cards that people used to show they had been to visit someone's house when the resident was absent. A calling card can also be used as a way of telling someone you're alive after you've run away or disappeared without revealing yourself or having direct contact with that person. It is often left at a bed side table while the person is asleep.

Read more about Calling Card (crime):  Historical Examples, Examples in Fiction

Famous quotes containing the words calling and/or card:

    Watching a woman make Russian pancakes, you might think that she was calling on the spirits or extracting from the batter the philosopher’s stone.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.”
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)