In Murder Mysteries, Nothing And No One Is Safe

Okay, I’ve been reading murder mysteries for a while now, and have come across some of the creative ways that authors have bumped off their victims. Untraceable poisons no one can pronounce, crossbows set to kill on a timer or ice bullets which will melt after completing their deadly mission leaving no trace.

In spite of that, I think I’ve come across one that is truly unique, but I could be wrong. I’m sure a lot of you read more than I do. Although my family would have hard time believing that.

Anyway, I finished reading The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet; A Detective Story by Burton Egbert Stevenson. The book was written 1911 so it’s a bit on the sensational side, but the solution does make sense which I appreciated. In my opinion those are the best, they are unlikely, but still possible. In spite of that this story has got to have one of the most ingenious murder weapons I’ve come across.

Forget Professor Peacock in The Library with The Revolver. Or even a frozen leg of lamb or a toaster. 

In this story the murder weapon is…a piece of furniture. A rather large cabinet to be precise. Not a built-in, free standing. No it doesn’t fall on anybody, it’s a little more complicated than that of course.

The plot is a locked room mystery, which basically is that someone is murdered in a locked room. There’s no way they could have been murdered, but yet there’s this dead body. Then another one. And another one. Plus some near misses, but no one realizes that until later. The only commonality is this cabinet, and it’s definitely the murder weapon. No spoiler there that’s established almost immediately. But how is the murderer using it to kill people?

Well that’s the mystery, and if I told you, you'd be mad. So if you're want to know read the book.

The furniture did it, think about that the next time you move it to vacuum behind it.

What about all of you? What is the most creative, unique or bizarre fictional murder methods you’ve come across?