Watch out! Look behind you!

Just how likely is it that someone will ever murder you?

If you read nothing but mystery books, or watch crime shows on television, you might get the idea that people are getting murdered right and left, everywhere you go.

The truth is, very few people get murdered. In fact, the murder rate in the United States has been falling steadily for years (with a brief exception due to Covid). Currently, the statistics show only 4.29 murders out of every 100,000 people.

As a writer, I differentiate (though statistics don’t) between a “murder” and a “killing.” If a convenience store clerk gets killed by a thief during a robbery, I don’t consider that a murder. If a convenience store clerk gets killed by his wife because he was unfaithful, that’s murder.

As a mystery reader, I’ve noticed that genuinely kind, honest, and good people seldom are the murder victims. To decrease your chances of getting murdered, avoid doing things that will make people dislike you: cheating on them, lying to them, defrauding them, abusing them.

Of course, living a blameless life is no guarantee that you’ll never be murdered. But if you do, and you are…well, no one will never know for sure, will they?