Whilst surfing the net, searching for interesting ways to kill people for the next book in my crime series, I stopped to wonder at what the new laws covering people’s search history would throw up for those writers who dabble in murder.
Today, I was investigating the merits of using a muscular relaxant to mix in with insulin for terminal effects.
NIMBEX (cisatracurium besylate) is a nondepolarizing skeletal muscle relaxant for intravenous administration.
Of course, my character would have to be a doctor to administer such medicines and the research required for said profession with access to the required meds was quite interesting. It drew my attention to the many cases of murder using insulin. As a person who has friends and family with diabetes, it was an interesting subject to investigate, whereas from my writer’s point of view, it gave me very poor traction as a murder weapon. Not many adults die from insulin overdoses given to them by murderers, mainly because the side effects show up pretty fast and can be actioned by the victim before it’s too late. The long term side effects of brain damage opened up options on killing the victims in a different setting, adding tension to the story. So, to restrain said victim in the first place after administering the insulin,a muscular sedative seemed like a good option and something different to throw into the mix.
Oh, the things we think of as writers. Makes my real life seem rather mundane in comparison!
E. De Sousa 