KRIS ASHTON

In July of 2007, I was kicking back in front of the television with a couple of Friday evening beers. I don’t remember what triggered it, but I thought about a segment I had once seen on Sesame Street. It was aimed at teaching children a bit about science and animal husbandry, I suppose, and the central image that stayed with me was a kid trying to squash an egg between his hands and saying (in a scripted, exclamatory voice), “I can’t break it!”

 

I commenced to wonder if you could use an egg as a murder weapon – an idea so preposterous that I started to laugh. My wife (then girlfriend) asked what was so funny, and when I told her, she shook her head and said I was weird. (Whenever I share an undeveloped story idea, she either thinks it’s funny or weird.) This only heightened my delight.

 

My experience in the mystery genre amounted to a compendium of Sherlock Holmes tales and three stories by Stephen King (two in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, plus The Colorado Kid), but this could not quell my enthusiasm. I wrote ‘The Best Laid Plans’ in a couple of days, with the sort of focus that only comes when you know you’re onto a REALLY good idea.

 

Two other things worth mentioning: A) My wife offered a couple of astute editing suggestions that I don’t think I ever would have picked up, and which made ‘The Best Laid Plans’ infinitely more publishable. Thanks, Kel. B) While this is the first and only mystery story I have ever written, it was accepted by the first market I sent it to, the venerable Mysterical-E.