Looking for some realistic and modern ideas for contracting a killer for a book plot. I am currently working with using Craigslist and similar internet resources but don't read that genre. The ways I am familiar with from older books sound too Dick Tracey.

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try not to use guns alot, or knives. maybe use piosons and cars

Try realistic human problems. LIke torture.

Have the contract killer approach the contractor... in other words, make the IMPETUS for the contract killing be the opportunity to have it done. Make the initial contact be the spark that starts the idea instead of the other way around.

I think that using Craigslist and the internet are great ideas. What about Yahoo answers?

ok whatever you do DON'T make your character "mad-slasher" or wanting to kill because he's mentally unstable. That's how it is in almost every murder book. How about having a person who's really devoted to their work, and is forced to kill a few times. Then it just sort of becomes a habit, killing anyone who gets in the way.

Realistically the contractor will find a police detective. They will be arrested. Most authors skip over the obvious fact that illegal contracts cannot be advertised. They just jump ahead. The old plot about a chance encounter by strangers who admit they need someone killed worked before and will work again. Shakespeare often used chance encounters.

Most families have a black sheep somewhere along the line. Maybe an in-law has connections. He (or she) just needs to be cajoled into talking.

Depends on the persons who wants to contact a killer! Try to find a copy of Michel Deville's film Péril en la demeure (Death in a French Garden), the protagonist actually does not hire the killer but there's an unusual way to get in contact with one. Also try Kaurismäki's I Hired a Contract Killer, Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, and Becker's L'éte meurtrier (One Deadly Summer) - different, but a way to find someone who kills people for you. These films might give you an idea of how far you can go. In a world where people can hire human beings to kill other human beings - what is realism? I think it's mainly about the place where you meet a killer - it usually is dark side roads, a seedy men's restroom, an obscure park, or 'speakeasies'. I would like to see/read it happening in the full light of day, in an environment that does not fit - a sunny beach where children play in the sand (the protagonists would both sweat, etc.), a charity ball - wherever - but no more dark side roads. I also would like to see something going wrong - usually the talking is short and the killer vanishes misteriously - bore me! I would like to see a killer (unlike the always nervous drug dealers) who isn't hard-boiled and a 'client' who is nervous. It would be interesting to find an INTERESTING way to show it the other way around. Or to show that the killer's conscience-proofness is mere surface - whatever. Another thing is the way the protagonist gets in contact with a contract killer - modern? On the internet? Yahoo Answers - Can anyone tell me how to find a contract killer? :? ! My space? The 'Rohtenburg cannibal' found his victims via internet chats - it's all been done before. Maybe he's watching a murder and follows the offender - I think this has been done before, too. He may find a cell phone and find stored phone numbers one of which leads him to a contract killer? :? ! I surrender .... Modern technology does not seem to be a way to show a modern way to get in contact with a killer....