Thursday, February 5, 2015

Craft Corner

How many ways are there to catch a crook?

1)  Only the BG (bad guy) knows a detail that only he would know; a name, an item at the crime scene, etc.
2)  The BG doesn't know something he's supposed to; the name of his uncle, the time of the crime.
3) The BG leaves something incriminating behind; a fingerprint, his work glove, etc.
4) The BG is seen; surveillance footage, a witness.
5) The BG brags and someone tells the police what he said.
6) The BG's behavior changes; a poor man buys a new car.
7) The BG suffers an injury during the commission of the crime that incriminates him.  He has burns from setting off a fire for example.  Or he has little glass cuts all over his face from the window exploding when he dove through it.
8) The BG has a specific field of knowledge that ordinary people wouldn't know; a court reporter knows something only because she could read the steno notes left at the death scene of another court reporter.




Can you think of any other ways? 

7 comments:

Chris said...

How about, the bad guy gets injured in the course of committing the crime - a wound from a broken window, a burn from an explosive or blow torch - and can't explain how it happened?

Or he/she has some knowledge of a subject that narrows the field of suspects. Scientist/doctor/archaeologist... court recorder (sorry, couldn't resist)

Elizabeth said...

If someone has a pacemaker, s/he must stay away from electrical power tools & anything that creates a large magnetic field, such as leaning over a car engine that is running. Electric or gas lawnmowers are a no-no, might be O.K. to ride on a lawn tractor. Power tools that run off of compressed air are O.K.

Jody E. Lebel said...

@ Chris. Okay, good ones. I will add 'suffering an injury during the commission of the crime that incriminates him'.

And: Specific field of knowledge. For example perhaps only a court reporter would know how to read a steno note that another court reporter wrote before she was bludgeoned to death with the judge's gavel.

Jody E. Lebel said...

@ Elizabeth. Tell me how the police know he's the killer because he has a pace maker.

Elizabeth said...

Someone with a pacemaker obviously could be a criminal, but would be much _less_ likely to commit certain types of crimes or to use certain methods. My husband has a pacemaker & occasionally uses an electric drill for a few minutes here & there until I tell him not to do that!

I like your clue about the steno notes ... I actually do know how to read them, because I used to work in court reporting years ago. Please don't name a suspect after me in a case where that knowledge would give me away!

Jody E. Lebel said...

@ Elizabeth. Oh, I get it. We can eliminate the pace maker guy as one of the suspects. Very clever. Not a clue everyone will pick up on right away. I think you should use that one.

I didn't know you were a steno... :) Did you do criminal work? I'm going to include the steno notes clue in my next mystery story... I like that clue too.

Elizabeth said...

Hi Jody, no, I used to be a notereader, transcribing other people's work. Even after all these years I remember how to read steno notes & could probably tell whose notes I was reading, if it was anyone I'd ever worked with. It's funny how people's individual styles show up, even in something with as many rules as stenotype.