Monday, March 10, 2014

Fun With Snow In Mysteries


In my romantic suspense, Killer Career, snow plays a part in one of the major scenes. When the heroine enlists the help of her friend to shovel her driveway, her elderly neighbor stops by to say her dog is missing. They search for the dog in the next-door yard and making a shocking discovery.

I thought of this scene today because it's been the first day I've been able to walk my own dog in a long while. We've finally gotten a break in the many rounds of cold and snow, and we're actually in the 50s here. On the downside, more snow is predicted Tuesday night into Wednesday.

Anyway, snow can be used in many ways in mysteries. Here are a few:

  • It's great for hiding things you don't want discovered, such as bodies, or evidence. 
  • Great for slowing down investigations, because it impedes law enforcement or other helpers to get to the scene of a crime. Once there, it takes longer to get around outside to look.
  • Snow can cover tracks. 
  • Phone lines can go down.
  • Power can go off.
Those are only some examples. If you can think of others, please share. Or, perhaps you've even used snow in one of your own mysteries and would like to tell us about it.



Morgan Mandel
Twitter: @MorganMandel


5 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, you're just a bundle of joy! I thought snow days were to have fun--not to hide dead bodies. But since I don't write mysteries, I have a hard time identifying.
I had to see this post after you had so much trouble.
I did this same thing, too, on my last Sweethearts post--had all the photos in the rights place, everything, and somehow it converted back to the original text. Then I had to go through that photo adding process which doesn't always work perfectly.
I did enjoy your post, though.

Morgan Mandel said...

Thanks, Celia!

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

Even though we don't have snow here but once in a blue moon--and needing it badly because that's where our irrigation water comes from, I've used snow in books too. Fun post, Morgan.

Morgan Mandel said...

I wish I could say we haven't had snow in a blue moon, but alas, we had even more last night!

Kathleen Kaska said...

For me, too much snow can be a good reason for a character to commit murder.