  Mystery
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Welcome to the Mystery Newsletter. Why are mysteries so popular? Because mysteries make you think. You follow every clue, examine the crime scenes and remember what each suspect said, until you solve the crime. A good mystery can keep you interested until the end. A great mystery will keep you guessing until the last page...when it makes you slap your forehead in surprise!
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Murder Most Foul
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. - W. Somerset Maugham
While I'm sure Mr. Maugham was referring to the actual act of dying, a mystery writer really can't avoid the inevitable death - at least not in their writing
Many different crimes drive a mystery story's plot. Theft, kidnappings, and assaults are just a few of them. But murder is a most foul and popular crime for a mystery novel's detective to solve.
Everyone knows guns and knives kill people. They have been used over and over again in crime and mystery stories in the past, and will be used again in the future. How about a new way to kill off your victim, a way that will stick in your reader's mind long after they stop reading?
In this issue, I'm going to touch on killing your literary victim with various poisonous items. Poisons are rated by toxicity levels, with 1 being the least toxic and 6 being almost always fatal. Here are a few poisons to spark the killer instinct in you
Poisonous Plants
Many plants are very fatal. Sometimes only a small amount is needed to cause death. Some of the plants that can cause death are:
Barbados Nuts can be found in Florida and Hawaii on a small spreading shade tree and have a toxicity level of 6. The nut, which has a very pleasant taste, tricks most victims into eating more than one and sealing their fate. The reaction time is between fifteen and twenty minutes and if left untreated the poison inhibits protein synthesis in intestinal wall cells, eventually causing death. Symptoms include difficult breathing, vomiting, drowsiness, diarrhea, leg cramps.
Lily of the Valley is a beautiful plant people use to decorate their yards. It is found in the western part of North America and has a toxicity level of 6, with an immediate reaction time. All parts of this plant are toxic and symptoms include hot flushes, hallucinations, headache, cold clammy skin, stomach pains, nausea, slow heartbeat, and eventually coma and death from heart failure.
Unique Household Items
There are numerous household items that are dangerous, even fatal, if ingested. But how about those not some common ones?
Sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as Baking Soda, can be dangerous to heart patients if swallowed, though a large amount (about a cup or more) is necessary to cause heart failure. However, if mixed with saline and injected into the veins, only a good-sized needle's worth could do the trick.
Barbecue charcoal is another household item that can be fatal. Burning briquettes in an enclosed room releases carbon monoxide into the air, which can cause suffocation and death.
Fatal Fungi
Mushrooms are another great method to off your victim. They can be snuck into a favorite dish, or even served as part of a salad. Mushrooms are a nice change of pace from the standard poisons.
Amanita phalloides, or death cap mushroom, has a toxicity level of 5. They are found in America and Europe and are quite nasty little fungi. Symptoms are slow to develop, sometimes taking up to forty-eight hours to develop. There is no known antidote for Amanita poisoning and death can take between four to seven days.
Cort mushrooms are found mostly in Poland and surrounding areas and have a toxicity level of 5. About one-and-a-half cup of this cooked mushroom is enough to make someone deathly ill. More can be fatal. These fungi can cause nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, convulsions, coma and eventually death. It can take from three days to two weeks for symptoms to even show, and by then the victim's liver and kidneys are so damaged there is usually little that can be done to save them.
Allergies
Don't forget allergies when thinking of how to have your victim die. There are millions of people in the United States alone who are severely allergic to many common things. Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, wheat and soy beans are but a few of the foods people can be allergic to. A person with a severe allergy runs the risk of suffering Anaphylaxis if they come into contact with the item they are allergic to.
An anaphylactic reaction may begin with a tingling sensation, itching, or metallic taste in the mouth. Other symptoms can include hives, a sensation of warmth, asthma symptoms, swelling of the mouth and throat area, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, cramping, a drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness. These symptoms may begin in as little as five to 15 minutes to up to two hours after exposure to the allergen, but life-threatening reactions may progress over hours.
Most people who have severe allergies are prescribed Epinephrine which works to reverse the effects of the anaphylactic reaction. But what if your victim wasn't able to reach their injector pen? Death by peanuts would be a crime that sticks in your readers.
There are many ways to kill your victim, as many ways as there are people in the world. The method you chose should be unique and well thought out. You want your story to be the one your reader remembers, and talks about, to their friends and family well beyond finishing the book.
Thank you for taking the time to read. Happy Writing!
darkin
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Submitted by: billwilcox
Write on, Dark'n'!!!
I've never really experienced 'page fright', but I have become disinterested in what I was writing.
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Submitted by: Vivian  
Ohhh, Darkin, I really liked "page fright." Thanks for sharing that with us. I'm going to remember that. ~~ Viv
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Submitted by: rose_shadow
Good newsletter, Darkin! I find it interesting that the author of The Courage to Write describes "page fright" as fear of sullying a pure blank page. For me, the fear is the blank page. Why am I not writing more? Am I not good enough to think of enough words to describe this or that? Why am I seeing so much white space?
What would writers be without their neuroses?
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Mystery: October 04, 2006 Issue [#1301]
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