Murder By Toaster: Mysteries With Surprisingly Lethal Weapons

Mysteries, suspense novels, thrillers, and crime novels in which relatively or usually harmless items are employed as effective murder weapons. The list was partially compiled by members of Fiction-L in January and February 2003, and partially from solutions to locked room mysteries listed in Robert Adey's Locked Room Murders (Minneapolis, MN: Crossover Press, 1991 ... thanks, Dennis) and is added to continually. Suggestions for additional titles always welcomed. This list is full of spoilers, so beware!

If you like this list, you might also like 'How to Get Away with Murder' by Linda Stratmann, available online.

Find these titles at your local library or through ABEbooks, AddALL, and other used and out-of-print book dealers.


PETER ABRESCH
CATHERINE AIRD
DONNA ANDREWS
SANDRA BALZO
CAROLYN BANKS
GEORGE BAXT
GEORGE C. BESTOR
HUGO BLAYN (aka John Russell Fearn)
LAWRENCE G. BLOCHMAN
M. MCDONNELL BODKIN
RHYS BOWEN
C. J. BOX
RAY BRADBURY
ERNEST BRAMAH
WILLIAM BRITTAIN
FREDERIC BROWN
CECIL BULLIVANT
JOHN BURDETT
JOHN DICKSON CARR
HELEN CHAPPELL
AGATHA CHRISTIE
WILKIE COLLINS
BEVERLY CONNOR
VINCENT CORMIER
MARK CROSS
ROALD DAHL
Here's More of Dahl's creepy short stories.
BARBARA D'AMATO
JO DERESKE
AUGUST DERLETH
TIM DORSEY
WALTER EBERHARDT
UMBERTO ECO
RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS
IAN FLEMING
CHRISTOPHER FOWLER
DICK FRANCIS
DOROTHY FRANCIS
R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
SARAH HOSKINS FROMMER
ELIZABETH GEORGE
ANTHONY GILBERT
JACQUELINE GIRDNER
CHARLES GOODRUM
SUE GRAFTON
H.F. HEARD
GEORGETTE HEYER
EDWARD D. HOCH
MICHAEL INNES
DEAN JAMES
DAY KEENE
STEPHEN KING
E.V. KNOX
CHARLOTTE MACLEOD
MARGARET MARON
P.B. MAXON
JAMES MELVILLE
T. JEFFERSON PARKER
JULIE PARSONS
LOUISE PENNY
MELVILLE DAVISSON POST
E.R. PUNSHON
ELLERY QUEEN
MARY REED and ERIC MAYER
MARY REED
DOROTHY SAYERS
ALICE SEBOLD
BRAM STOKER
NANCY TESLER
TREVANIAN
S.S. VAN DINE
NOREEN WALD
NATHAN WALPOW
MARY WELK
KATE WHITE
CORNELL WOOLRICH