a crime of taste

[Robert Bennett]

how would you create a character that solves crimes solely by the use of his sense of taste?

[D.R. MacMaster]

Make him immune to poisons and give a tongue that would make Gene Simmons jealous.


But don't make a medical examiner.

That might be in poor taste.

;)

[Robert Bennett]

a poor tasting ME could be fun...but I have a blind protagonist I've been writing about so I'm trying to explore his other senses.

thanks for the thoughts.

[D.R. MacMaster]

You could have the murder weapon be planting peanut oil on something used by someone with an allergy to nuts. (or shellfish) Something like a reed from a clarinet or saxophone, and your blind detective could give the other reeds a taste test.

Other than that, I'm stumped.

[Jude Hardin]

You might find some ideas here.

[Cynthia Rice]

It would seem that solving a murder through sense of taste would be dangerous to your protagonist, especially if he's checking for poisons. The sense of smell is intimately related to taste - and not as dangerous to your character.

[Denis OLeary]

I saw a documentary where a scientist in the mid 1800s had to taste suspected poison, in this case nicotine, to verify what it was. You won't see that on CSI today.
Wish I could remember the show or the case, but it was in England if that prompts anyone's memory.

[John Dishon]

Make the character have Lexical-gustatory synesthesia.

[I. J. Parker]

Nice! :)

[D.R. MacMaster]

Good one.

Make him a human lie detector, because lies taste different from the truth.

[I. J. Parker]

There are mysteries about cooks and restaurant judges. The latter might fit a blind person better. Of course, taste can refer to non-gustatory things.

[Robert Bennett]

These are all excellent ideas. Thank you. Now I'm tasked with figuring out where I want to go next with my character.

[Burl Barer]

if the murder involved poison, does the charcter taste the urine feces and blood to solve the crime?
Is he/she an asskisser and bootlicker?
If your character has a stuffedup nose (smell is inperative to taste) they will be as useless as an old queen with a headcold.