How do they put it

Hello:

There is this paragraph in a story whose author has a very special style and sometimes she does not use the conventional punctuation marks. Can you help me understand the phrase in brackets?:

"A woman was murdered (how do they put it) in broad daylight in a house two blocks away, last year, and the fierce dogs who guarded an old widower and his collection of antique clocks were strangled before he was knifed by a casual labourer he had dismissed without pay."

I am mixed up because of the inversion construction but the lack of question marks. I do not know exactly what it means.

Thanks and regards.