I’ve decided that Portia is going to suffer her injuries (that lead to the hearing and speech loss) via an explosion of a land mine.
The specific land mine in question will be activated via tripwire run between railway tracks.
It turns out that mines were used in the U.S. to derail at least two trains during the Civil War, so my scenario is feasible. I’m trying to decide between the 1kg Soviet EZ Mine and the 5kg Tellermine 29 (which literally feels like overkill) because both existed in 1932 when this casebook occurs.
One person will be killed, Portia will be injured, and one other person will lose a limb from this blast, making me think the 1kg mine is (Gods help us) sufficient.
Will this injury occur in France or Germany, where land mines could possibly be found in 1932? And can you actually recover from those sorts of injuries? Actually, it’d be pretty cool if in future books, Portia handles more difficult cases while dealing with her disabilities.
I agree with Rami. Can you extend these injuries beyond just this story?
It would be an interesting twist and a chance for some powerful character development. It’d be like Sherlock Holmes meets girl power meets Daredevil.
No, it occurs in London, but the terrorist who plants it gets ahold of a mine to carry out their dastardly deed.
Oh, how terrible! And it will surely be an inconvenience when tea time comes around!
Sounds pretty awesome.