A friend posted a picture on Facebook of a heron that he said looked like a murderbird plotting a murder. ‘Whoa,’ I commented, ‘I thought I was the murderbird plotting murders. Is that bird gonna write my books now?’   No, seriously. I do slip a lot of dark into my young adult stories and my adult thrillers, including murder, unintentional killing, suicide, and other vicious betrayals of and by mankind. Why? I ask myself that question with every new story and usually end up blaming my muse, even if I know, deep down, that I must have a dark and ruthless streak or his ideas and inspiration wouldn’t strike a chord. For what it’s worth, I never set out to write about death. I do know…