Espionage Aficionados discussion

We all know what is a Perfect Murder.
Lets Discuss number of ways a Perfect Murder can be executed leaving no trace behind (I know, I know I know, criminal always leaves some clue, but still)

My Idea:
Attach a water pipe connected to electricity and let the water flow in the bedroom of person you want to kill. In the morning whenever the person wakes up, he will put his/her feet in water and will get electrocuted. Make sure you are wearing gloves while handling wires and water pipe.

Though this way has certain drawbacks, like what if there are no windows in bedroom which are accessible, what if window is on 20th Floor.

But i don't know why it came to my mind, i have never read it anywhere. Completely Original.

I know of one--but if I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Seriously the one I do know about is 100% untraceable and foolproof --except in the event of the killer confessing afterwards. Actual case, too. Happened in the 1920s. I was going to use it in a writing project of mine but someone said it was too dangerous to publicize it.

Your 'water' idea --sounds all wet to me. Far from perfect. Thanks for the reminder about gloves though, I never wudda thought o' dat...

:p

Fun topic, by the way. Thanks for posting it...!

Feliks wrote: "I know of one--but if I told you, I'd have to kill you.


Hahaha.... "Valar morghulis"

Well... i am sure you have read hundreds of spy-mystery-thrillers, share any of your favorite one, Not asking to disclose your own Idea. I will love to read it in the project you are working on when it is complete, better said, "i will be glad to grab first copy of it".

And yes, my water idea sounds pretty lame! Though i can improve upon it.

This could be a very long thread.

I can name one I always enjoy: the type of poison case where the murderer secretly builds up immunity to the poison first, so that when he poisons his victim, the victim's suspicion will be allayed by them both drinking from the same glass. That's the gist of Hercule Poirot's last case.

A great movie, 'Obsession'

The murderer kidnaps his victim and chains him up in a rented basement for three months. This is to allow time for the police to stop searching for the man, for them to write-him-off as a missing-person.

In the ensuing three months, the murderer visits the basement every few days and goes to the bathroom where there's a tub. He deposits a small amount of acid in the tub every visit (from a tiny vial in his pocket). This is so that no one can report him carrying jugs of mysterious liquid around.

At the end of the three months, he will drug the victim's food, cosh him on the head, and toss the body into the tub, destroying the body. Since it is 3 months since the victim disappeared, there will be no reason for anyone to suspect.

Another one: a killer attaches a 200,000 volt power cable to the victim's telephone wire. So they simply call him on the phone, and when he picks it up to answer, he is electrocuted.

Use digitalis made from the common foxglove. Simply insert into toothpaste, so you're not there when they have a heart attack!

I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of ways of getting the toothpaste into someones bathroom!

Feliks wrote: "This could be a very long thread.

I can name one I always enjoy: the type of poison case where the murderer secretly builds up immunity to the poison first, so that when he poisons his victim, the..."

Same was used in "The Hunger games series"... wonderful plot used by King.

Feliks wrote: "Another one: a killer attaches a 200,000 volt power cable to the victim's telephone wire. So they simply call him on the phone, and when he picks it up to answer, he is electrocuted."

Aaah,... i See.. you have read it finally from Four Just men! This has a history attached to it. The author, Edgar Wallace, announced a prize money to solve the mystery behind the killing and ended up bankrupt as hundreds of people turned up with the solution.

Roger wrote: "Use digitalis made from the common foxglove. Simply insert into toothpaste, so you're not there when they have a heart attack!

I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of ways of getting the toothp..."

Roger - I hope, you don't have a jealous neighbor who walks freely in your house.

Sanchit wrote: "the type of poison case where the murderer secretly builds up immunity to the poison first ..."

This goes back *at least as far* as Dashiell Hammett. It's found in 'The Big Knockover' as an anecdote. But I bet it's much older than even that.

Sanchit wrote: "ended up bankrupt as hundreds of people turned up with the solution. ...."

What a durn fool!

The opening sequence from 'The Mechanic'

Enter target's residence during the workday.
Place sleeping powder in target's food.
Place small slab of plastique explosive between pages of book on shelf.
Open stovetop, place dry chewing gum atop stove's pilot light.
Target comes home, eats food, falls asleep.
When gum melts, pilot light will be snuffed out, and gas will fill room.
From across street, use high-powered rifle to shoot book, explode plastique, and ignite gas.
To police, resembles stove accident.

Feliks wrote: "The opening sequence from 'The Mechanic'

Enter target's residence during the workday.
Place sleeping powder in target's food.
Place small slab of plastique explosive between pages of book on shelf..."

What about the bullet fragments left in book? Police will find that for sure, arson cases are the most deeply investigated cases as they usually have big insurance tied up with property!

That's true. You spotted a possible flaw. Perhaps he used specialty ammunition; perhaps a mushroom/expanding tip. That would leave only tiny bits of metal, rather than a full-sized slug. Then too, they'd be dispersed as the book explodes.

The other flaw in that assassination is this: for the gas to collect in the room, the windows have to be closed. So the killer must shoot through the window to ignite the gas. That means though, that some glass will be inside the room--on the floor. An explosion blows glass outward, not inward.