According to an NPR story I heard today there’s nearly a 40% chance you can get away with murder. That’s based on the number of murders committed and how many of them remain unsolved. Apparently it doesn’t vary much by location.

You can increase your odds by leaving no evidence and no witnesses. That means doing it at night, outside and with a gun that hasn’t been used in a crime before. A gun also allows greater distance between the murderer and the victim, which minimizes evidence.

All this from Stacy Horn, author of The Restless Sleep: Inside New York City’s Cold Case Squad. You can read an excerpt online.

It seems the getting away with murder bit was just an intriguing hook to keep people listening, but it worked for me. Fascinating stuff, if only I wrote crime novels.