mandag den 25. oktober 2010

What´s Your Pick?

This pretty mushroom is one my husband ´shot´ Saturday when the whole family took a nice walk in the wood near our cottage. Don´t worry, it wasn´t one of my family members that snatched a bite.




What is your favourite murder weapon?
What is your best example of a story where it is used?

11 kommentarer:

Unknown sagde ...

My favorite murder weapon? Oh, cool questions. I think it would have to be... a gargoyle on the head. Dropped from the third floor. I think I've read about it in a Colin Dexter or Caroline Graham novel. Can't remember which one...

Bibliophile sagde ...

My mother and I once came across one of these that had a stem 30 cm long and the fully opened cap came to about 20 cm in diameter. It was beautiful, but knowing what it could do gave us the chills.

While I don't object to exotic murder weapons and methods in literature, I prefer the realistic ones. The unusual and exotic methods are so often risky and flashy and obvious. While it's very thrilling to stuff a scorpionfish down someone's throat, I like the realistic methods better.

One of the "best" murder "weapons" I have come across was featured in a fairly average murder mystery (The Princeton Murders by Ann Waldron), but I can see how it could be used in real life and no-one would be the wiser, since it isn't something that is screened in standard toxicology tests: an overdose of paracetamol (acetaminophen to Americans).

Anonym sagde ...

Dorte - What a beautiful picture! Hmm....fascinating question, too - my favourite murder weapon. I think it's the frozen leg of lamb used in Roald Dahl's short story Lamb to the Slaughter. Ingenious the way the murderer uses it and then hides it from the police...

Elizabeth Spann Craig sagde ...

Love that mushroom!

How about the way the murderer "killed" the final suspect in "And Then There Were None?" Ingenious! Sort of more of a method than a means that makes it interesting.

Dorte H sagde ...

Clarissa: I am pretty sure I have read all Colin Dexter´s novels so I think it must have been Caroline Graham.

Bibliophile: I agree about realism, or at least when the story aims for realism. In cosy capers, Midsomer Murders etc I can accept different methods for unusual effects.

Margot: Dahl is a master, and that story is often used in crime fiction anthologies for English students :D

Elizabeth: fascinating that something so pretty can be dangerous. I agree about "And Then There Were None". Agatha Christie´s imagination was impressive.

Felicity Grace Terry sagde ...

Tigers whiskers - I seem to remember reading somewhere that they killed - slowly - and were almost untracable during postmortem.

C. N. Nevets sagde ...

I'm mired so deep in writer mode, that I can only seem to think of my own murder weapons and that's brutally conceited. haha

I'll vote for Clarissa's gargoyle. That sounds delightful.

Kelly sagde ...

Hmmm... I know I've read a lot of clever stories, but I can't think of any one in particular right now. I don't remember if it was actually in a murder mystery (or possibly even here?) but I like the idea of using an icicle. Just provide some warmth and the murder weapon melts!

Dorte H sagde ...

Tracy: perhaps I should test that in Knavesborough? :D

Nevets: gargoyles are delightful - and, it seems, useful :D

Kelly: I have certainly read one (Norwegian) where an icicle was the weapon, and as you say, it was difficult to prove it.

Bibliophile sagde ...

Kelly, I remember an episode of a TV mystery series where the killer had figured out a method to use bullets made of ice. Pretty cool method, and I think I remember having read that it has actually been used in a real murder.

Beth F sagde ...

I love this photo -- great colors.