Random Suppositions

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(Member Lexa Mack muses about murder…)

I am guessing that the average (as in normal) person doesn’t sit in bed with their spouse and discuss creative (and undetectable) ways of killing other people.  Nor do they daydream of ways one might be suspected, or convicted, of a crime based on erroneous evidence.  Of course, I could be wrong.  It is possible that many of you do exactly that.

Could I be wrong about how mystery writer’s minds work?  Is it only me?  Sometimes I feel quite self-satisfied when I construct a new story line while waiting to have my car serviced.  But, some of my ideas, while initially brilliant, need more research and work to come to fruition.  Thank God for the internet!

  1. Would it be possible to create a bath bomb that, when exposed to water, creates a poisonous gas that could overcome the bath taker and cause them to pass out and drown (or kill them outright)?
    1. What chemicals combine with water to make noxious gas?
    2. Once the gas dissipated, would it be detectable in the corpse?
      1. If it was, would it be possible to track?
    3. If a gift basket arrived that contained bath bombs, champagne, and scented candles could it be a murder weapon?
      1. If “poison” was detected would the champagne be a possible red herring that causes the gas to be overlooked?
    4. If the Amazon Alexa is constantly in standby mode awaiting the trigger word “Alexa or Echo” to begin recording would it be possible to have a murder recorded by accident?
      1. How long does the device record?
      2. Are the recordings kept somewhere as documentation of an order to Amazon?
        1. “Alexa, order more toilet bowl cleaner.”
      3. Is it possible for investigators to contact Amazon and obtain the recordings?
      4. Could the accidental recording be used as court evidence?
    5. I have it on good authority that it is very poor “homeless etiquette” to step on and crush a partially smoked cigarette butt. A butt should be carefully stubbed out and left in a visible/accessible place to be found by someone in need of some nicotine (say, on the top of the newspaper dispenser outside the convenience store).  I have also read that smokers leave DNA evidence on cigarette butts.
      1. What if a smoker was waiting for their bus, outside the convenience store, lit up, and then their bus arrived?
        1. They might stub out their cigarette, place it on the windowsill, and get on their bus.
      2. What if said smoker had a history of conflict with the store owner?
      3. What if someone else came along, lit up the butt, went into the store and murdered the owner?
        1. Both smoker’s DNA would be on the butt.

Care to share any of your meanderings?  If something here grabs your interest, then feel free to run with it.  I just ask that you “take one/leave one.”