Murders -- Only on Paper

Someone asked me recently how many people I’ve killed off in books. I went back and checked my short stories, novellas, and novels, and I’m up to thirty-four. (Wow! Sounds like a serial killer.)

I write traditional mysteries and cozy mysteries where everyday people are the sleuths and the killers, so my characters use what’s nearby. Hardly any of the characters have military, medical, or law enforcement training. And I don’t write serial killer or predator books. So, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to stop an attacker or take out the victim. One of my sleuths (Jules in the Glamping series) detained the killer by hitting him on the head with an iron skillet.

Here are some of the ways, I’ve offed people in books besides poisoning, gunshot, and stabbing:

• Strangulation with a tie and a scarf

• Pushed off a cliff (two different stories)

• Insulin injection

• Snake bite

• Strangled with a strand of Christmas lights

• Crushed by a heavy piece of furniture

I have also had a couple of books where a caper was the featured crime, and there was no murder.

In another recent interview, someone asked if I had ever modeled the victim on a real person. I don’t usually do that. My characters have traits from several different people, and they’re not really based on a person. One time, in “Spring Cleaning,” I did kill an office worker who may or may not have been modeled on a real person who may or may not have gotten on my last nerve. The guy in the story was strangled and put in a rolling bin for documents that were sent off-site for storage. I enjoy it when friends try to convince me that they know who certain characters are based on.

I always tease with my team at work that they need to be careful, or someone will find them in a dumpster in the next book. I’ve had several people ask if I would kill off an annoying person in a book. Maybe I should run a contest and pick the best story for a character in an upcoming work. Hmmm.