History Main / YouGotMurder

When the [[SnailMail postal service]] is used to kill someone, usually by letter bomb, biological weapon, poison, or some kind of magic that uses the written medium. Sometimes, an e-mail or other New Media messaging device is used in place of an actual letter or package.

When the postal service is used to kill someone, usually by letter bomb, biological weapon, or some kind of magic that uses the written medium. Sometimes, an e-mail or other New Media messaging device is used in place of an actual letter or package.

Worth noting is that in real life you're not supposed to send dangerous goods by mail in the first place, not even for non-violent purposes.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''VideoGame/ParadiseKiller'': Half of the council was killed by [[spoiler:a demon smuggled into their chambers in a containment crate, then remotely opened when they convened.]]

* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'': One of the protagonist's diversionary tactics is to send packages to several enemy officials, which contain a loudly ticking mechanism and a message saying "This package could have killed you". He later sends another batch which looks and sounds exactly the same on the outside... except this time the bombs are real.

* '''BOOM!!!!!!!'''

* ''Series/ForeverKnight''. In the Season 3 premiere, a MadBomber gives a gift-wrapped package to his girlfriend who is an airline pilot, thus bypassing security. He then uses his mobile phone to activate the bomb after she's taken off. Later DaChief recieves another giftwrapped package which seems to be a RedHerring when it only contains chocolates from the police commissioner, but when the package starts making the same sound that Detective Knight heard on the black box flight recorder when the last bomb activated, [[OhCrap they realise the bomb is hidden beneath the plastic tray holding the chocolates]].

** In "The Untouchables", Doyle receives word of an assassination attempt on an Arab politician. They stake him out, but the man arrives home without incident. Then a boy on a bike turns up to deliver the newspapers, and Doyle realises too late there's a rolled-up newspaper already sticking out the mail slot which explodes the moment the politician removes it.

->''"Special delivery, a bomb. Were you expecting one?"''

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Hunter/Hunted", Doyle receives a package in a plain brown wrapper. Knowing he hasn't [[AluminumChristmasTrees mail-ordered anything from an adult bookstore]], Bodie and Doyle carefully cut open the package to find a stick of gelignite [[spoiler:harmlessly wired to ''Moriarty's Police Law'', a taunt against Doyle by a DirtyCop he put away.]]

* In the 2010 vigilante film ''Boy Wonder'', Sean Donovan writes a letter to the criminal who killed his mother, saying he forgives him but he must know if his father hired him to commit the crime. So the criminal won't incriminate himself, Sean tells him to send back the enclosed self-addressed envelope with a red stamp (if his father is innocent) and a black stamp (if guilty). The criminal licks the stamp and dies on the floor of his cell. It was the red stamp, but Sean had already killed his father thinking he was guilty.

* In the 2010 vigilante film ''Boy Wonder'', Sean Donovan writes a letter to the criminal who killed his mother, saying he forgives him but he must know if his father hired him to commit the crime. To avoid incriminating himself, he encloses a self-addressed envelope with a red stamp (if his father is innocent) and a black stamp (if guilty). He licks the stamp and dies on the floor of his cell. It was the red stamp, but Sean had already killed his father thinking he was guilty.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' put a spin on this one, in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect". Monk is working on a mail bomb murder case, and must figure out how his prime suspect was able to send the bomb while in a coma. And, of course, he does. [[spoiler:The suspect had glued the packages to the top of the inside of the mailboxes, which wouldn't be found and delivered until the glue wore off, which would take weeks. The suspect had been planning to establish an alibi by getting arrested for speeding and going to jail during that time, only to end up in an accident that put him in a coma]].

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' put a spin on this one, in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect". Monk is working on a mail bomb murder case, and must figure out how his prime suspect was able to send the bomb while in a coma. And, of course, he does.