Killing Victims (Murder Mysteries) (quote)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Every time I see it on TV, I wonder: Would it really kill someone if you tossed an electric fan into their bath water?

I suspect that all that would happen would be that the GFI would snap immediately and turn off the power. Then a wet and very ticked of "victim" would come rearing up out of the tub and beat the tar out of you with a bottle of shampoo.

They would have to see you do it. You would have to enter the bathroom in order to throw an object into the bathtub; you'd be right out there, visible. I doubt that they would accept your excuse that it was meant to be a joke.

With all the CSI stuff it becomes more and more difficult to think up an interesting murder that the lab technicians can't solve with a couple of test tubes and a DNA test.

The key condition is "interesting" and the other important condition is not "already done to death" (pun intended).

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I suppose I should add that I have no plans to run a scientific test to see if it causes death, nor am I scheming to get rid of a cheating spouse of my own.

[harry chickpea]

Chances would be iffy at best. Even without a GFCI a breaker might trip from the sudden short between the hot legs of the circuit. Electricity is lazy and takes the easiest route. In a fan, the exposed wires are within an inch of each other.

In point of fact MANY of the murder mystery death scenarios are DESIGNED by the writers not to be feasible, even in the better written shows. There are a lot of nutso people in the world and it is better not to give them ideas.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I suppose I should add that I have no plans to run a scientific test to see if it causes death, nor am I scheming to get rid of a cheating spouse of my own.

Hey, that's where good ideas can start. I once plotted to get rid of my now-ex husband by overfeeding him high-cholesterol foods. His blood cholesterol was already high and his father had died of a heart attack in his forties. I thought it might work, and my conscience was salved by the fact that I wasn't forcing him to eat anything. I was very creative about it. I could hide a stick of butter in every dinner.

Then I came across a "Mini-Mystery", which used to be a feature in Woman's World magazine, in which a woman gets a call from a doctor after she and her husband have had physicals telling her that her husband's cholesterol is very high. She starts to feed him high-cholesterol foods. (It turns out that the doctor made a mistake--HER cholesterol is high, not his, and she dies.)

It made me realize that I should've used all the creativity to put it into a story instead of wasting my energy trying to attain widowhood.

By the way, I've been divorced for 12 years, and he's still alive.

[nightbird47]

if you want accuracy, get copies of these books.

Deadly Doses: A Writer's Guide to Poisons (Howdunit Writing): Serita Deborah Stevens, Anne Klarner: 9780898793710: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: Cause of Death : A Writer's Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine (Howdunit Series) (9780898795240): Keith D. Wilson: Books

There is also a book on injuries which are survivable.

These books area written by experts, but in non technical language. If you need to look up a nagging detail and don't have an understanding person to ask, this is a good way to strive for accuracy. For some, blatent mistakes take away from the credability of a story.