Where Does a Writer Get Ideas
Having read nursery rhymes to all four children, years later, seeking a new method of murder, I got a great idea.
“Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat,” prompted my imagination. The villain could feed his victim to morbid obesity, then pump air into her blood stream to precipitate her death.
Might that work?
One evening, at a meeting of the high school’s adult quarterback club, I mentioned my idea to a couple of medical doctors who volunteered as team physicians.
One of them agreed a man might easily feed his wife to morbid obesity, but doubted anyone could then use the condition to kill her.
I suggested using a syringe to shoot air into her veins. Both men laughed heartily and nixed that. It would take too long, one would have to use an oversized needle, and the obvious needle marks would arouse immediate suspicion.
One of them then nodded and said, “But you could break a bone.”
The other one’s eyes rounded as he grasped his associate’s meaning. “Of course, a broken bone would release emboli into her bloodstream.”
They then joined in a duet. “And there would be nothing we could do to prevent her death.”
“She’d have to be really fat.”
“Right. But it would work.”
“And it’s unlikely anyone would suspect foul play.”
“Exactly.”
The two were so enthusiastic at having realized this unusual method of murder, that other members at the meeting had stopped their discussions and eavesdropped on this one. Most of them laughed, nervously, and suggested we get back to club business.
The diabolical advisors were Don Crawley and Kenneth Miller.
JACK SPRAT COULD will be released August 25, 2017 from Wild Rose Press. It will be my thirteenth published novel.
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