Or, “I promise, Honey, I’m not planning to kill you.”

I’m writing novels now, but in my prior life I was an engineer and a researcher. Getting my facts right is ingrained in my personality. My fictional town was founded before the Civil War and there are crimes to solve or stop dating from those earlier times to present day. This is all wrapped in a contemporary cozy mystery/suspense setting that I want to bring to life. Details matter.

I had a good laugh with my husband the other day when I mentioned things I’ve typed in my search bar lately:

“Is a coroner called when buried bones are found in Wisconsin?”

“Is it legal to bury someone on private land in Wisconsin?”

“What do buried bones look like over time?”

“How long is a human rib bone?”

“How might a financial power of attorney document be forged?” 🤣

Of course, interspersed amongst the suspicious searches are far more innocent ones. I search for and check on everything. If one of my characters is baking, I look up the recipe. If someone sits under a 100-year-old tree, I look up how wide the trunk would be. If I’m making a new character, I search for names that were popular for their ancestry and era. I just can’t help myself. Sure, I’m writing fiction but I think part of being immersed in good fiction is it being plausible, familiar and comfortable. That way, when something a bit otherworldly happens, the reader is tricked into believing it too is plausible. At least, that’s my hope.

So, how suspicious is your search history? What’s the wildest phrase you’ve typed in a search bar?