Research in Real Life

You know, I have a great reason for missing my last Sunday blog post. Really, I do. I was doing mystery research...no, not official "book" research, but real life experience research.

What did I learn?

*Court cases are interesting things; sometimes lawyers are terrible rhetoricians.

*An entry wound from a gunshot is distinguishable because it has something called Abrasion--a dark ring around the central defect (wound) that looks very similar to a bruise.

*Exit wounds are irregular in shape because when the bullet exits the body, it splits the skin rather than puncturing as it does upon entry.

*New Mexico has a state Office of the Medical Investigator that "investigates any death occurring in the State of New Mexico that is sudden, violent, untimely, unexpected, or where a person is found dead and the cause of death is unknown," which means that I need to fix references of autopsy in TO DIE FOR because autopsy would have been performed by the state of New Mexico.

There was more, but I can't really go into detail about it. Turns out some things that people think are tedious are a mystery writer's best friend--who says jury duty has to be a terrible experience?