Nicely put. Too often books are just another "standard murder" and it becomes more about the gruesome details or the hunt for the killer. Another dimension would be nice.
Thanks, Tim, I so agree. Sure you need the crime itself and details, and if the story goes that way, show how the killer is pursued and maybe even gets caught. But adding a self-defense in there that looks like murder, or a suicide, or a situation where intimidating is the primary intent but things go horribly wrong, as they so often do in life, that could open up so many other doors for the story to go through.