Murder mystery authors create antagonists who attempt to commit the perfect murder, but it’s also their job to create a protagonist who can catch the killer.
Through the years, authors have used clever methods to kill off the victim(s) in their stories. In honor of mystery month, we are examining unusual methods of committing murder.
Can you match the method(s) of murder used by the killer with the author and novel/short story?
Good luck!
Answers can be found in the last article of this issue, “Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life – June 2026. Keep reading your way through this issue, or you can use this link to jump to the answers,
Authors and Books:
Christopher Brookmyre – A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away
Edgar Allan Poe – “Murders in the Rue Morgue”
Christopher Fowler – Seventy-Seven Clocks
Frances G. Joyce – His Life’s Work
Roald Dahl – Lamb to the Slaughter
Agatha Christie – “The Bird with the Broken Wing”
Lynne Truss – Murder by Milk Bottle
Dorothy Sayers – Busman’s Honeymoon
James Melville – Kimono for a Corpse
Jo Dereske – Miss Zukas and the Library Murders
Ian Fleming – Goldfinger
Sue Grafton – B is for Burglar
C.J. Box – Savage Run
Stephen King – Misery
Tim Dorsey – Florida Roadkill
Noreen Wald – Ghostwriter
Mary Welk - A Deadly Little Christmas
Mark Cross – The Jaws of Darkness
Umberto Echo – The Name of the Rose
Ruth Dudley Edwards – Clubbed to Death
Georgette Heyer – Behold, Here’s Poison
1. Wife kills husband with a frozen leg of lamb, cooks it, and serves it to the detectives investigating his death. ____________________________________________________
2. A woman suffocates after her body is painted with gold paint. __________________________________
3. Locked room/house mystery. The killer sets a booby trap using a weighted potted plant on a chain. The trap is activated when the victim opens a radio cabinet after locking up for the night. __________________________________________
4. Death by a window sash that’s pried loose then replaced and left hidden in plain sight. ____________________________________________________
5. The killer uses an icicle contaminated with mercury that melts before the body is found. _______________________________________________
6. Death by classic novels, an autographed copy of The Godfather and a copy of Crime and Punishment. _____________________________________________
7. Victim killed by an exploding cow _______________________________________________
8. Death by toothpaste laced with nicotine. _____________________________________________
9. A beverage container is used to kill three people.__________________________________________
10. The victim is beaten to death with a copy of The Economist Magazine. ___________________________________________
11. Death by Orangutan __________________________________________________
12. Murder by ukelele string ___________________________________________________
13. Death by ice arrow shot into the brain. ______________________________________________
14. Death by the rod of a card catalog drawer through the heart. __________________________________
15. Death from a rum enema. _________________________________________________
16. The victim licks his fingers as he turns the pages of a scandalous book with poisoned pages.______________________________________________
17. Victims are killed by being injected with poisonous snake venom, an exploding clock, a Bengal tiger, and toxic makeup. _____________________________________________
18. Death by exploding Christmas tree. ______________________________________________
19. Death by manual typewriter. _________________________________________________________
20. Death by drowning in a motel room toilet. _______________________________________________
21. Death by falling chandelier. ________________________________________________________
Sources for this quiz:
https://www.maggiejamesfiction.com/blog/five-unusual-fictional-murder-methods
https://crimereads.com/10-of-the-most-original-murders-in-mystery/