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Mystery Writing Advice

Dumb and Dumber Down Under Got the Dough

Posted on January 22, 2008 3:52 pm by JRV 1 Comment

I don’t know why there are so many bad movies out these days when writers only have to read the headlines for inspiration. Take this dynamic duo for example: what on earth could be the back story to inspire such desperate measures on their part, much less carry a loaded gun. Surely this pair would be better off….well … writing situation comedies.

‘Pair of fools’ jailed in bungled burglary in Australia

Published: Monday, January 21, 2008 | 10:29 PM ET

Canadian Press: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MELBOURNE, Australia – Two Australian robbers thought they were hauling away a big sack of cash from the Cuckoo Restaurant but it turned out to be bread rolls – and one of them accidentally shot the other in the buttocks during the heist.

Benjamin Jorgensen, 38, and his accomplice Donna Hayes, 36, were sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to robbing the restaurant in the southern Australian city Melbourne on April 1 last year.

During the April Fools Day holdup, Jorgensen grabbed what he believed was a bag with the Cuckoo’s daily take of about $27,000 in cash but later found it was full of bread rolls, the Victorian County Court heard.

He also fired his gun accidentally during the heist, shooting Hayes in the buttocks.

Judge Roland Williams told the robbers they were a “pair of fools,” before sentencing Hayes to eight years in prison and Jorgensen to seven.

Earlier this week, defence lawyer Greg Thomas said Jorgensen had been under the influence of drugs at the time, had made a full admission to police and was remorseful, News Ltd. newspapers reported.

© The Canadian Press, 2008
CP


His own worst enemy

Posted on January 17, 2008 3:09 pm by JRV Comment

Story ideas. They’re everywhere. And this particular little nugget proves that the ‘Peter Principal’ applies to the criminal as well as the corporate world.

Police: Indiana man accidentally shoots himself during store robbery

Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | 10:07 AM ET

Canadian Press: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KOKOMO, Ind. – Oh, shoot!

Police say a man accidentally shot himself in the groin as he was robbing a convenience store on Tuesday.

A clerk told police a man carrying a semiautomatic handgun entered the Village Pantry demanding cash and a pack of cigarettes.

The clerk put the cash in a bag and as she turned to get the cigarettes, she heard the gun discharge.

Police say surveillance video shows the man shooting himself as he placed the gun in the waistband of his pants.

A short time later, police found 25-year-old Derrick Kosch at a home with a gunshot wound to his right testicle and lower left leg.

The clerk wasn’t injured.

Kosch was released from the hospital Tuesday and booked into the Howard County jail on a charge of armed robbery, criminal recklessness and battery. He is being held on a $100,000 cash bail. A jail official did not know if he had retained an attorney Wednesday. 



Mystery Gymnastics

Posted on January 14, 2008 3:27 pm by JRV Comment

“The mystery form is like gymnastic equipment: you can grasp hold of it and show off what you can do.”  – Mickey Friedman

The above quote is what makes mystery writing so fun! If a writer is adept then they can take the reader along on a tandem ride – like gymnastics for the technical expertise and like jumping off a mountaintop with a trained paraglider for the thrill.



More on the Cow

Posted on November 23, 2007 4:57 pm by JRV 1 Comment

Dovetailing nicely with the story of the cow who crashed down on a minivan earlier this month, comes this choice morsel from the Canadian Press. (I have to wonder, however, why all this amusing stories come from other countries than Canada; and I can wonder, since as a Canadian, I know there are many ridiculous things that happen in this country too) But back to the cow.  For the sake of a story: this could be a revenge seeking relative – the cow, not the guy with the gun. Maybe the cow knew something and the guy with the gun, who possibly allegedly was involved with in the first incident, had to shut the cow up before he talked. Shades of Animal Farm …………………

Man says he shot cow after mistaking it for coyote; authorities are skeptical

Published: Thursday, November 22, 2007 | 8:24 PM ET

Canadian Press: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLFAX TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A man says he shot and killed a neighbour’s cow after mistaking it for a coyote.

Authorities and the cow’s owner are skeptical. The undersheriff in northern Michigan’s Benzie County says he doesn’t see how anyone could confuse a 635-kilogram, pregnant cow with a coyote, which typically weighs about 13 kilograms.

Shooting coyotes is illegal during deer-shooting season and authorities asked the county prosecutor to bring charges.

Undersheriff Rory Heckman says the 42-year-old man told authorities he was out to shoot coyotes near his home Saturday when he killed the cow and then tried to drag it home.

The owner of the cow, DeAnn Mosher, says her husband thought that their neighbour should go through some therapy looking at repeated pictures of cows and coyotes, because they look nothing alike.



The Zero Effect

Posted on November 11, 2007 3:57 pm by JRV 2 Comments

One of the most enjoyable movies ever! Starring Bill Pulman and Ben Stiller. Truly a fantastic way to spend two hours. Richard Stark, one of the writers,  is a pseudonym for that master mystery writer Donald E Westlake – who can do no wrong as far as I am concerned. Alternately a dark or delightful read depending on which series you are devouring:

“Passion is the enemy of precision. Forget the nysnomer crime of passion. All crime is passionate. It is passion that moves the criminal to act, that disrupts the static inertia of morality. The client’s passion for this dead woman had facilitated his downfall. And the blackmailers passion would facilitate hers. When you live with no passion at all other people’s passions come into glaring relief.”

– Richard Stark & Jake Kasdan The Zero Effect




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