Thursday, April 7, 2016

26+ Ways to Kill: F is for Flype and Foramination


Welcome! Since I write culinary mysteries, “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” deals with food topics and with mysteries. This month I am sharing ways to kill people—in your mysteries, of course—and some tips on getting away with it! To avoid the pronoun problem, I’ll use heesh (he or she), shis (his or hers), and shim (him or her) throughout the entries. Tune in for murder and mayhem.

Gosh there are a lot of F words for killing off your character! I actually combine some of them in foraminate, one of today’s words. What I rejected was freezing (I’m doing that tomorrow!), fire and fracedo (creating a putrefying heat and tossing the live body in), the –cides (formacide—ant killer and floracide—flower killer), and fusillation.

Fusillation held my attention for a while as my mind played with an arrogant, know-it-all young cop who is writing up the report of a death by shooting, and writes, “The victim’s cause of death was fusillation.” Can’t you just see the older officer taking this guy down a peg or three? But I didn’t include it in this post.

I also got distracted by other F words like fagin, an adult who instructs others in how to commit crimes. And using frame the neighbor as a way to conceal whodunit. Fire can also be used to kill as well as destroy forensic and other evidence. Kill the guy. Make it look like an electrical fire. Cool, huh? Well, I guess fire isn’t actually cool.

So all that rumination left me with Flype and Foraminate as my F killing words.

A flype murder would take a strong stomach. And time. This is a slow one. I would think this would fit into a ritual killing plot or one of over-the-top revenge. To begin, the killer would lash down, or otherwise restrain the victim. With a very sharp knife (if you want it to go faster) or a dull knife to intensify the suffering, the killer would flype the victim. To wit, strip back the skin of the victim and turn the body inside out, partially.

Now there’s a scene that would take some descriptive words! With enough blood loss, the victim will eventually bleed out and would be in constant and excruciating pain while slowly dying.

Foraminate is a bit less bloody, but a painful and probably slow death as well. This is one where one could frame the neighbor (or spouse, or business partner, or . . .). The point (so to speak) of foramination is to perforate or pierce the body with small holes. The killer, again, would restrain the victim, and start punching in the holes until the victim dies because of blood loss or, more mercifully, something vital being punctured. The killer might use forfex (scissors) for the weapon or anything else fourchette (forked, like a pitchfork or even a dinner fork).

That was fun, wasn’t it? Come back tomorrow to see ways to kill with G words. See you then!

If you take time to share this post on social media, I would be most grateful. 

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#Mystery writer need ideas to kill? F is for Flype or Foraminate. Many killer tips this month #atozchallenge http://bit.ly/1UXEMRT

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Blogging from A to Z Challenge offers a wide range of topics. If you want to kill someone (in books of course), check out killing by Flype or Foramination on “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” at http://bit.ly/1UXEMRT


Check out Sharon Arthur Moore’s culinary mystery, Mission Impastable  

6 comments:

  1. I think either of these would be horrible ways to die! F is a very creepy letter when it comes to ways to kill people.

    Cheers - Ellen | http://thecynicalsailor.blogspot.com/2016/04/f-is-for-flares-nancy-drew-investigates.html

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    1. Yeah, Ellen, I agree. Sort of surprised when I was doing my research for this topic. But, then, I did want to find some unusual ways. Stay tuned. The FUN continues with the rest of the alphabet.

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  2. Had never heard of the word flype before, and man, it is gruesome!!

    I have an idea about a mystery novel on the back burner, but it will be way less gruesome :)

    Good luck with the rest of your A to Z journey!
    Sylvia van Bruggen

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  3. Yeah, these are tough! Myself, I write cozies, but the research for this was great fun. If I used flype, it would be done off-stage and briefly described but not elaborated. I know mystery writers are always hunting for unusual methods. Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Seriously fearsome F words...even for a crime novel aficionado.


    @cassmob from
    Family History Across The Seas

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  5. Hey, Pauleen, good to see you here. Yeppers, these are pretty ugly ways to die. You probably wouldn't find too many in a cozy.

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