Hornets, Death, and the Perfect Trap 🐝

Thriller research takes me from backyard hornets to Swedish inheritance law...

Doing a little research into hornet’s nests for my thriller. It’s a scene where my main character is walking the woods behind her house and notices a clever trap set by her grandmother.

What does a hornet’s nest look like?

They can be ginormous!! And the nests are usually tucked away, safe from the elements. You’ll find them mainly in the eaves of houses and such. I’ve had them as well. I’m scared so I called the exterminator who sprays the nest so the hornets inside die off and those out and about don’t return. Once activity is gone, they remove the nest but it leaves an awful sticky substance behind that takes years to weather away. Or a very strong power wash.

I actually see one in my neighbor’s tree. Without the leaves it’s hard to ignore.

This guide includes a great subject —”social wasps” — check it out!

And what does a hornet look like?

Angry looking bugger isn’t it? Skinny and fierce.

In fall (when my story takes place) a hornet's nest has a low, persistent hum with a papery whispering. These are the hornets busily crawling about and working hard to repair the nest for the winter. This is how their queen will be protected. Unfortunately these worker hornets will soon be dying off. Maybe this is why they sound irritable and angry. The colony is at its largest now and most dangerous.

Imagine stepping on one of these nests….

Don’t worry, I’ll tell you! 🫣

The nest itself gives way with a papery crunch. But that humming of the workers becomes a roar as hundreds of hornets explode out. A swarm of yellow and black (Go Steelers!) If you are the poor fool, you’ll be bitten not once like a bee, but over and over and over.

They’ll crawl into your clothes, your hair, and give off a smell alerting all nearby hornets to get their hornet asses over here, pronto.

Pain goes from individual needle-pricks to fire. You might try to run and swat them away but they’re pretty persistent. Worst case scenario—nausea, dizziness, and difficulty breathing followed by anaphylactic shock even without prior allergies!

And anaphylactic shock is no joke. Blood pressure drops super fast, airways narrow and you can’t breathe. If you’re not carrying around a handy EpiPen, you will probably die in minutes.

Y’all get the idea? Well, that’s what I’ve learned this morning about hornet behavior.

Of course, thinking about the word hornet got me thinking of the book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. Do you all remember this author’s story?

Recap — Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist who spent his career investigating right-wing extremism and hate groups while working at the anti-fascist magazine Expo, which didn't pay well. He wrote the Millennium Trilogy (including The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) partly to create financial security for his long-time partner Eva Gabrielsson, whom he never married due to safety concerns from neo-Nazi death threats.

In November 2004, at age 50, Larsson died suddenly of a heart attack soon after delivering all three manuscripts to his publisher. He never saw any of them published or selling millions of copies.

And because they weren't married, Swedish inheritance law gave everything to his estranged father and brother while Eva got nothing, despite being together for 32 years.