Fake shark attack

Friendly Frog · Jun 3, 2014

Speculation: If say the murderer used an old shark jaw to mimic wounds and a tooth stays behind in the victim, the murderer can decide to get rid of the incriminating evidence by tossing it in the sea. If the heroine then finds a jaw from an obvious long-dead shark that she can link to a recent murder through the tooth, she'll know something's off too.

EDIT: Aaah, crap, my computer only showed one page when I replied. Apologies if already mentioned/discussed.

Marian Perera · Jun 3, 2014

That's all right.

It's a good idea, but the bodies have long-since been buried and I'm not sure of the feasibility of the heroine doing forensic dentistry. She does know a lot about sharks, but enough to tell the age of their teeth? IMO it would have to be really obvious that the tooth was an old one, plus she'd have to find the discarded jaw as well.

That being said, the story's well under way. She's arrived in the harbor and heard about the deaths, so now I'm getting into the good part. *nom nom*

frimble3 · Jun 3, 2014

I've had a thought about the manufacturing of evidence. What if, after finding the fin, she finds whatever the fin was made of? Something odd or imported, that wouldn't be common on the island, and would limit the 'suspects'?

Logs, chains, anchors and tar would be common in a fishing village. Unless something other than an anchor is used as, well, an anchor? A distinctive piece of stone, or a lead or iron something-or-other. The murderer is the town clerk, I've no idea what he'd think of. What is the fin made of? A piece of wood is hard to identify, a thick piece of leather or parchment (covered in tar for stiffening, as well as protection). A piece of copper or brass that's been cut from something else?

What does the clerk's no-good son do that would give his father access to things-other-than-paper?
Actually, leather or rawhide wouldn't be bad, if it was disposed of in the sea fairly recently, it might be of interest to the shark. In fact, maybe the murderer just shoved it under some other stuff and ignored it, until your MC shows up. Then he thinks, "Uh-oh, better hide the evidence," not realizing that she isn't going to be doing a house-to-house search.

So, he dumps it in the ocean, because in a sea-side village, that's what you do. (Possibly weighted with the same sort of chain that he originally used. Check out the variety of chain links available.) It's a thick piece of leather left over from some long-ago town job, that the clerk has inventoried a dozen times, but figures everyone has forgotten, come fin-making day.
So there's the chain and a side of hide with a fin-shaped piece out of it. Useful evidence?

Canotila · Jun 3, 2014

Perhaps, if you do decide to go with a set of trophy jaws being used to mar up the body, someone kept a tooth found on the body as evidence and has it on display somewhere? Maybe the clerk himself would do it?

While age might be tough, shark species are really easy to identify via teeth. It's something she would be able to do easily. If the jaws used came from a shark not native to that area/extinct/non agressive/etc. that would give her another thing to be suspicious about, and for villagers to pooh pooh her knowledge over.

For what it's worth, your story sounds rad and I just bought a copy of your first book because of this thread.

Marian Perera · Jun 3, 2014

frimble3 said:
I've had a thought about the manufacturing of evidence. What if, after finding the fin, she finds whatever the fin was made of? Something odd or imported, that wouldn't be common on the island, and would limit the 'suspects'?

I see your point, but would it be too coincidental that she'd find both of those? Not just the fin, but whatever the fin was made of, especially if both had been dumped in the harbor?

What is the fin made of? A piece of wood is hard to identify, a thick piece of leather or parchment (covered in tar for stiffening, as well as protection). A piece of copper or brass that's been cut from something else?

I was planning to go with wood because that's what Hoplite suggested, and it seemed simple enough to construct. Though, of course, copper and brass would last longer underwater...

What does the clerk's no-good son do that would give his father access to things-other-than-paper?

I needed the murderer (the one behind the scheme, anyway) to be the village clerk, because he would be the one in charge of composing and sending a message to the nearest town asking for help in the matter of a man-eating shark.

The son's occupation didn't need to be planned, though, so I just wrote him as the local carpenter. That's open to change. So he could have any profession that people might be likely to have in a small fishing village.

Actually, leather or rawhide wouldn't be bad, if it was disposed of in the sea fairly recently, it might be of interest to the shark. In fact, maybe the murderer just shoved it under some other stuff and ignored it, until your MC shows up. Then he thinks, "Uh-oh, better hide the evidence," not realizing that she isn't going to be doing a house-to-house search.

So, he dumps it in the ocean, because in a sea-side village, that's what you do.

Heh. I like that reasoning.

I'm going to have to think about this, because it also occurred to me as I was planning the next couple of scenes that I'd only introduced three of the villagers so far : the clerk, his son and a grizzled old fisherman who fills the heroine in on some of the details which make her suspicious.

I was thinking this guy could be killed later, but the moment I got into "this is no accident and no shark, this is murder!" it would be obvious there could only be two suspects. So I need to present more. No wonder Dame Agatha had so many well-attended dinner parties in her books.

More possible suspects : a local who tries to Quint the village by asking for money to hunt the shark, or a relative of the first victim who benefited from her death (maybe inherited her bakery). If there's such a relative, it would be nice if the distinctive piece of lead or iron or whatever used to sink the fin could be traced to him.

...Just thinking out loud here...

Marian Perera · Jun 3, 2014

Canotila said:
Perhaps, if you do decide to go with a set of trophy jaws being used to mar up the body, someone kept a tooth found on the body as evidence and has it on display somewhere? Maybe the clerk himself would do it?

While age might be tough, shark species are really easy to identify via teeth.

I saw a neat close-up of tiger shark teeth on Twitter, showing how they're shaped in such a way that the shark could, can-opener fashion, even get into sea turtles. And tigers are one of the suspects, given that they like to hunt in the shallows. Bull sharks are another.

While I'd like a set of shark jaws to appear in the story, if only as a homage to this...

...I don't think the clerk would save one of the teeth to display. He believes he's committed the perfect crime - attributed to a random attack by a shark which then left. He pretends to send a message to Seawatch asking for help, but doesn't actually do so. The bodies are buried. Problem over.

It's a shock to him when someone from Seawatch actually turns up, but because he's not expecting this, he never actually saves a tooth to show as a "look, there really was a shark" strategy (assuming that there was a set of jaws used to cause specific damage). He also wouldn't have a tooth on display, because he would like to downplay the deaths and have everyone forget about them.

Possibly the only person who would have such a tooth displayed is the Quint character, if I go with that. It's something I have to think about. If he has a collection of similar trophies, that would fit right in. It might also give him a reason to really want there to be a killer shark - otherwise, he's basically just a has-been sitting around with his collection of mementos from his glory days.

For what it's worth, your story sounds rad and I just bought a copy of your first book because of this thread.

Why, thank you!

Though I hope you're not going to be disappointed, because the sharkpunk elements only kick in with the second book. The first is more of a prequel to the series. But still, thank you.

GeekTells · Jun 4, 2014

What if she were to find the body parts somewhere? Shallow grave? Perhaps a dog brings a bone with a scrap of clothes of the victim?

The point being that the missing body parts should be shark waste, not disposed of on land.

Alternately, what if she found just the clothes or some other identifying item that belonged to the victim—jewelry that was always worn, a wooden leg...I can't think of anything else.

But again, the point is that the heroine finds something that should have been lost to the shark, not found on land.

If you want it connected to the chief immediately, have it be on his land or behind a business he owns. If not, it could become the heroine's challenge to either pin it on him or simply discover who is responsible.

Late night food for thought in the midst of a busy week that has me longing for sleep!

Marian Perera · Jun 4, 2014

GeekTells said:
What if she were to find the body parts somewhere? Shallow grave? Perhaps a dog brings a bone with a scrap of clothes of the victim?

She doesn't have a pet dog, and if there was a dog in the village which conveniently dug up the shallow grave and brought back a bone with clothes clinging to it - clothes which could be identified as the victim's - then I'd have to have the dog in the story from the start. Otherwise it would be way too convenient that this dog just showed up to solve the mystery.

The point being that the missing body parts should be shark waste, not disposed of on land.

True, but my heroine isn't going to go digging for remains. It would never occur to her to do so, and she'd need to have a good reason to believe that the body parts were hidden in a certain location.

Late night food for thought in the midst of a busy week that has me longing for sleep!

It's not a bad idea for a murder mystery, but I'm afraid it just doesn't work for this one.

Fake shark attack

Friendly Frog

Snarkenfaugister

Marian Perera

starting over

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Canotila

Sever your leg please.

Marian Perera

starting over

Marian Perera

starting over

GeekTells

Tick tock...

Marian Perera

starting over