I’ve spent the last twenty years involved in murder. Writing about it, that is. Writing novels in which murders happen and lives unravel, never to be the same again. Murder is always an excellent subject for drama, whether it immerses the reader in the intricacies of detection or in the psychological impact. Murder sits like a big fat spider in our lives, either as an actual horrifying event or as something to be feared. The violent killer is our nightmare and always has been, going back to Cain and Abel, so murder is a universal theme.

Or is it?

There are supposedly three things necessary for a murder to take place; three things a detective will identify in order to solve the crime. The culprit must have means – poison, knife, gun, silk cord, strong hands, or any other tool of violence. He or she must have motive – greed…