Before I could write about murders, I had to really understand them. The ones that are really easy to understand are impossible to write about, for me anyway.
Some fellow has an ideal marriage, and he murders his perfect wife. How he does it, is much less interesting than why he did it. The planning and execution of the scheme can be fascinating, but he needs a reason to be doing it.
I knew such a couple when I was in my early 20's. They had a nice house on the near west side of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The guy had a really great job working for one of the major car companies, I'm pretty sure his wife was a stay home house wife. They had no children. The reason I knew the guy was I was a gate guard at one of the 2 car plants the guy handled Human Resources for.
At that time, mid '70's, I was really into playing chess. I had a chess board that I kept in the guard shack, and I always had a chess book I'd be playing through the annotated games or annotated positions from. It took years for me to understand that you can only get so good by studying the games of others, and from there you just won't improve much. He'd come in to check on the plant, and we'd play, and I'd beat him every time. He was at a playing level where study could have improved his play to perhaps my level of play, which wasn't real good among "players". How do Grandmasters make a living? Grandmasters ALL publish books.
A couple of times this fellow invited me over to his house after work to play, and I met his wife. His wife was a real nice lady. She would have made a great mom, but that never happened.
Why would this guy want to get rid of his wife? To get a different wife who could bear him children? I don't think he wanted a bunch of kids, but I'm only offering opinion based on VERY casual observation.
When I was back home visiting around 15 years later I saw his name in the paper. He was awaiting sentencing for the murder of his wife. He ended up getting sentenced to life. How did he murder his wife? They went on a Caribbean Cruise, she fell off the fantail of the big sailboat they were on, and they couldn't find her. How Michigan had jurisdiction in this matter escapes me.
I don't see how a jury could find him guilty of this, but you only get sentenced after conviction.
~ A good story needs details that can be carefully unveiled, one by one, which draw the reader in.
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