The Introverted Detective

I recently saw a mug on Pinterest that said "this may contain Iocaine powder", but is Iocaine an actual poison? Inconceivable! It is completely fictional. Fellow writers, pick your poison. This is a basic overview of poisons, some of them we see every day and use in smaller-than-fatal doses. It's all about dosage, frankly, especially in drugs (which can always be a poison). Plenty of suicides have been done by overdosing on drugs. Most of the poisons we hear about in mystery novels are actually natural substances being misused in larger dosages and being used incorrectly. Was it deliberate? Depends on the poison itself. Also, some of these are and were used medicinally, again all about how much you breathe in, consume, and soak into your skin. I'm going to talk about the most common poisons in mystery genre novels. Those include ricin, arsenic, and Strychnine. The most fatal will be first and least fatal last, but all are fatal.  Ricin Ricin comes from...

If I had to say one word about men in movies it would be dominance. While there are plenty of exceptions out there (for every stereotype there is usually an exception out there somewhere), I'd say Hollywood and the film industry show men as leaders and main characters, unless it's a sitcom. In the case of some sitcoms, men are shown as incompetent (think Simpsons or Everybody Loves Raymond). Just like Part One of my Gender in Films blog, I'm going to break down the stereotypes out there for you before I begin. After that I'm going to be showing you examples of both stereotype-supporting movies and the exceptions out there. The Stereotypes  1. All humor   - This character is a constant joke machine. An example of this would be Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H. He used it to mask his emotions, as well as deal with the war. Other characters who do this may use it as a mask, too, but to deal with other things of a less serious nature. If the only lines in the whole ...

Male and female roles have changed throughout history. These roles are reflected in films and media. Writers as a whole have to remember this when we write anything, whether it be movie scripts or novels. What we believe or see in our society gets reflected in our writing, whether we know it's happening or not.  Today I'm diving into how female characters are portrayed in films (next blog tackles the male side of things). There are, of course, stereotypes out there about what it means to be female, and I need to explain those before I describe characters. We have all seen several of these film stereotypes and you may recognize several of them.  Stereotypes of Women 1. The "perfect" wife  -  We see this in several sitcoms from the 50s. Women are serving, cooking, and being primarily domestic in this stereotype. Men would be doing almost no domestic work compared to the women in their lives, so if you're searching for an example in your head look for ...

We've all (well, some of us anyway) seen old Hollywood films of many different genres. Stardom began with becoming famous, and if you were female, being sexualized in front of a camera. The sexualized role of women both has, and hasn't, changed in today's movie business (based on what movies and directors you watch), but Hollywood itself has changed. First I need to clarify that the 'golden age' of Hollywood is what I mean when I say 'old Hollywood'. This was 1915 to 1963. This includes the silent movies and "talkies" of any genre. The term "t alkies" was used when sound in movies first became possible, and many actors had to get with the change or find another career. In that time period film provided an escape from reality (mostly an escape from the reality of the great depression and several wars)  and people fixated on entertainment. Because of the focus on entertainment actors and actresses got the spotlight and lots of mon...

Prohibition, the 18th amendment, created bootlegging and speakeasies. As most everyone familiar with the roaring 20s knows, it was a time where everyone drank, despite the 18th amendment, and bootleggers made millions. Prohibition was repealed, obviously, since we can sell alcohol with a proper license. In truth, prohibition laws had too many holes in them to work. These gaping holes included selling alcohol to pharmacies and priests. These holes were abused frequently. If you read The Great Gatzby you will see a shining example of this, because Gatzby was a pharmacist who sold these "prescriptions" (according to the law, that's what he was doing). Believe it or not, some priests did share with their congregations. The holes were there because the law wouldn't pass without these holes. Frankly, prohibition shouldn't have passed at all because all it did was make drinking go underground and become fashionable. Now, we're onto the topic of speakeasies. If ...

The 1800s was a time when, to put it bluntly, you had to do everything yourself. Factories and buying your clothes and food wasn't an option (for most of the time period). Towards the 1900s clothes in factories were an option, but early 1800s you made them yourself. Usually, my blog posts involve detective work and laws, with some exceptions, but today I am branching out into time periods because some writers write historical novels. You could, most definitely, create a detective from the early or late 1800s. I'm going to give you a basic snapshot of what 1800s life was like. In my research, I have found that early and late 1800s are different situations. I am going to be talking about the early 1800s. According to iamcountryside.com, it is suggested that you ask the Amish about their homesteading life if you want to know more about the late 1800s. Daily Life The first paragraph said it all: you do everything yourself, unless you were rich. If you were wealthy, ...

Saint Olga of Kiev is a name few know. I only heard about this woman, the patron saint of widows and converts, last week. Olga of Kiev was widowed after her husband, Igor I of Kiev, was assassinated by the Drevlians in a terribly gruesome way. The tribe that killed him then sent a marriage proposal to her and she accepted- or so it seemed. (I'm sure you're wondering why this is important to writers and mystery/suspense fans about now. Well, here comes the violent part, so you can stop wondering.) She sent for a party of men from the proposing tribe to celebrate the marriage with her, then buried them alive in a pre-dug ditch while she asked them loudly whether this was honorable enough for them. If this wasn't violent enough, she then set up a bathhouse and invited a party to join her there. She locked them in and burned them alive.  About now you're probably wondering if this can get worse for the tribe who assassinated her husband, and it can.  She de...