Generous donors to universities traditionally have been thanked with dinner with the vice-chancellor, their name on a plaque, or even the chance to found a new department. But the University of Dundee has come up with a novel way to reward benefactors: murder them. Fictionally, that is.
As part of Dundee’s attempt to raise £1 million ($1.57 million) to build a new state-of-the-art teaching mortuary, four best-selling crime and mystery writers will allow the highest bidder to appear as a corpse or character in a forthcoming novel. Participating authors include Stuart MacBride, whose Logan McRae series uses Aberdeen as a backdrop for "horrific crimes" as well as "much eating of chips and drinking of beer," according to his website. ...