Kathleen Kaska
I’m not a newspaper reader, never have been. But my husband more than makes up for it in our household. Since he discovered the pleasures of reading newspapers online, he now keeps tabs on dozens of small towns we fell in love with while on our cross-country trip a couple of years ago. I know the latest happenings in Rockport, Alpine, and Palacios, Texas, Marblehead, Massachutes, Cedar Key and Apalachola, Florida, and Nags Head, North Caroline, just to name a few. We find out who’s doing what and where. But the most entertaining reads come from the police blotters. And I realized these brief bits of bizarre news offer a wellspring of ideas for mystery writers.
I imagine what fun the police detectives must have crafting these reports. Recently, the police in a nearby town uncovered a murder-for-hire plot by an inmate in the county jail who was enlisting the help of a fellow inmate to murder the man responsible for the guy’s incarceration. These were the instructions he gave to the would-be killer, “Wet him with gasoline; dry him with a match.” A pretty good line; right out of a Mickey Spillane novel. If this guy ever went straight, he might make it as a pulp fiction writer.
Or how about this one? A few weeks ago, the police in my quiet little town were called to a
motel where a woman insisted they arrest her. She was hiding out from her ex-husband and current boyfriend who, according to the woman, were plotting to kill her. The cops explained they could not fulfill her wish because she hadn’t committed a crime. With a that’s-what-you-think attitude, she began pounding on the squad car’s windshield. When one of the officers tried to restrain her, she bit him on the leg. For the next few hours, the woman had the protection she’d requested.
photo credit to funnyjunk.com |
Or, here’s one; “Just say you’re sorry.” Several peopled complained about a homeless man who was causing a ruckus in a downtown square. The police arrived and realized the man was shouting profanities at someone only he could see. The cops told him to apologize to his imaginary friends. He did. End of story.
Check your local police blotter. What strange tidbits can you share?
Stop by for a visit at Birds and Books.
Stop by for a visit at Birds and Books.
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