why don't more authors kill with undercooked food?

[mjs9153]

I had a case where a lady thought her husband was trying to kill her by putting antifreeze in her cranberry juice.She brought me the bottle,and I thought it smelled of chemicals.Sent it in to be tested, and sure enough, that was it.He admitted it during questioning..

 

[blunthead]

I had a case where a lady thought her husband was trying to kill her by putting antifreeze in her cranberry juice.She brought me the bottle,and I thought it smelled of chemicals.Sent it in to be tested, and sure enough, that was it.He admitted it during questioning..

Wow, you know I hate when I get caught that badly.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

I've remembered a story I read recently where a character used...a drug...it's on the tip-of-my-tongue, the name of it...chloral hydrate I think it was...to do away with others, a Lawrence Block story. Providing a title is probably a spoiler of sorts to most readers since a reader does not learn about the additive until late in the story. I'm sure I've read other stories where food tampering is a plot device but I do not remember titles or authors.

 

[Dana Jean]

Intentionally?

My personal belief, yes.

 

[GNTLGNT]

I had a case where a lady thought her husband was trying to kill her by putting antifreeze in her cranberry juice.She brought me the bottle,and I thought it smelled of chemicals.Sent it in to be tested, and sure enough, that was it.He admitted it during questioning..

...but at least she wouldn't have concerns over urinary tract infections.....WHAT????....I'm just sayin'!....

 

[Haunted]

 

[HollyGolightly]

I believe Sai King experimented a bit with the death by bad food theory in Dark Tower VII

Spoiler

when Mordred ate Dandelo's horse

. I enjoyed the funny disgusting nasty description of him battling food poisoning

Spoiler

though it didn't kill him.

However, evil characters are usually very hard to kill, so maybe that's why. Anyhow, welcome to the SKMB.

 

[Neesy]

was out the other day commenting on how Gordon Ramsay accused one of his sub-chefs of presenting under-cooked chicken which could have killed the person who ate it.

so why aren't there more stories about the murder weapon being under-cooked chicken, eggs, or fish?

purpleintrepid
Maybe because if people get food poisoning their body just reacts like it is designed to do? i.e. barf

That's what happened to me and a good thing, too - I was in the shower and got the shakes from eating chicken nuggets that had thawed out and been refrozen. I would hate to think what would have happened if the "upchuck" response had not kicked in.

I recall feeling dizzy like I was going to black out as well. Good thing that the toilet was right next to the shower!

Okay so now that I have totally grossed you out with my tale:

Welcome! I hope you like it here - great bunch of people and funny stuff too!

Check out the "I'm Jealous of the Big Threads" for some good laughs

 

[AnnaMarie]

you're saying authors of fiction can't expect their readers to suspend their disbelief?? .

Not if you put a safety on your glock.

 

[Grandpa]

Too unreliable as a means of murder. I've had my own bouts with bad food, as disgustingly related in the Emesis thread, and that right there tells you the outcome (pun intended).

There was a pretty cool Nero Wolfe mystery, "Too Many Cooks," I believe, where selective poisoning was used during a banquet, but there's nothing novel (pun intended) in that approach.

 

[purpleintrepid]

Again, this is fiction, not the news. How reliable are vampires? One of the reasons I liked Cujo so much was because of its plausibility. Improperly prepared food is dangerous, why not exploit it?

 

[Grandpa]

I think you could make some hay with, say, a cook who has a grudge against the person or family she's working for and starts cleverly mixing up some food issues for punishment. ("I'll show them. I'll cut the vegetables with the same knife I used to I cut the chicken.") But even as that story starts to take shape, I'm thinking that they'll probably show symptoms of food poisoning first, have it diagnosed, and fire the cook. But, sure, she wants to make them sick, but someone dies.

Undercooked food would be a really chancy choice to kill someone intentionally. Anything's possible, but I'm not sure how that would be framed compellingly for the reader.

 

[Neesy]

Again, this is fiction, not the news. How reliable are vampires? One of the reasons I liked Cujo so much was because of its plausibility. Improperly prepared food is dangerous, why not exploit it?

I think you would need to have the person you give the food to isolated from others and in a vulnerable situation. The writer in Misery comes to mind - he is totally dependent on the care of Annie Wilkes.

If you liked Cujo as it was plausible, what did you think of "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon"?

 

[GNTLGNT]

Not if you put a safety on your glock.

...beautiful...

 

[purpleintrepid]

I didn't think "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" was nearly as plausible, although I liked how she was able to take care of herself. And I was thinking the chef would be in on the murder, but not the one initiating it. It's easy enough to poison food, and no one blames the chef, why wouldn't it be easy to 'accidentally' miscook something, or serve something that really shouldn't be eaten?
Maybe it's easier to just feed your spouse fast food for 30 years or so and then collect on the life insurance...

 

[Sundrop]

Wow, you know I hate when I get caught that badly.

Is there something you want to tell me about the Yemenade, Frank??

 

[Walter Oobleck]

I'd think an undercooked deer would serve as an effective weapon, say around the time of the rut...buck w/a big rack...a really BIG rack...put some scent female on the victim's clothing, turn them both loose in the barnyard, see what develops.

 

[Autumn Gust]

This topic reminds me of the evil grandmother from V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic. Every morning she'd sprinkle arsenic-laced powdered sugar on the children's donuts.

 

[Neesy]

This topic reminds me of the evil grandmother from V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic. Every morning she'd sprinkle arsenic-laced powdered sugar on the children's donuts.

How long ago did you read those books Autumn Gust?

 

[AnnaMarie]

This topic reminds me of the evil grandmother from V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic. Every morning she'd sprinkle arsenic-laced powdered sugar on the children's donuts.

Exactly what I was thinking about. But, that is not food poisoning....it's poisoning food. Much more reliable.