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Is St. Martin’s Press a smokescreen for pot delivery?

White Castle executives must be bummed that U.S. federal agents intercepted two shipments of marijuana, worth $70,000 U.S., en route to St. Martin’s Press in New York City.

First reported (appropriately) on the website The Smoking Gun, the packages, which originated in San Diego at the fictitious ABT Books, were addressed to “Karen Wright” at St. Martin’s Flatiron Building NYC headquarters. No one with that name is employed by the publisher, although hasty conspiracy theorists point to Lillian Hellman’s 1934 play The Children’s Hour, which features a central character named Karen Wright. (Update: Internet sources are attributing the character to Marcia Willett’s novel of the same name, which was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2005. Chances are Wright’s identity will never be revealed, and the police aren’t pursuing it, either).

The 11 pounds of pot were uncovered by a drug-detection dog after a postal worker became suspicious of the odorous packages. “The marijuana was found under layers of plastic wrap, according to inventory records. The sender had packed the Express Mail parcels with paper towels, Styrofoam chunks, and dryer sheets (which are often used by traffickers in an effort to mask pot odor),” reports The Smoking Gun.

News of the discovery has kept Twitter buzzing for the last day with suggestions for pot-inspired literature (hashtag: #potlit). Even St. Martin’s got in on the joke, tweeting, “LEAVES OF GRASS (11 lbs worth!)”

Enjoy a few of the hits:

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