Mystery novelists work in perhaps the only profession in which people are paid to come up with ingenious ways to kill people.

And while that may sound kind of fun, if your job is to kill two or three fictional characters a year, every year,

it can become a challenge to keep things fresh and original.

So when a mystery novelist meets a welder, for example,

they might ask some strange questions. They want to know about the welders so they can

figure out if there's a way to kill people with it. Now, we're always looking for unique

murder methods, motives, and body disposal sites. It's a peculiar lens to see the world, isn't it?

It's an occupational hazard.

Donna Andrews has been writing creative, funny mystery novels for more than 20 years.

I love the idea that you meet some new character in some peculiar profession,

and your first thought is like, how could that person be killed or kill someone else in a

creative and fresh way?

Yes.

Or what unique motives would they have for a crime?

What reason that I haven't suspected yet would they have for knocking someone off?

When you go into a situation, you start thinking, what are their lines of alliance and tension here?

And since I write humorous mysteries, I'm always looking for what's funny and what's deadly here.

Sometimes, you know, in the same thing.

And Donna is not the only mystery writer with an insatiable need for plot ideas.

Well, I mean, it is rather amusing when you're sitting with a group of mystery writers and something amusing happens and you all look at each other.

And if you're polite, you say, is anyone going to use that?

Because if you're not, I am. And if you're not polite, say, is anyone going to use that? Because if you're not, I am.

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