Brakes, murder, and a red Ferrari convertible

You might be disappointed in my literary skills. I can just barely kibbitz!

150 mph? Must be a different story. Jt, the OP said the character in the story drives ‘slowly’.

Sgoldenbaum,

Who drives a Ferrari SLOWLY? Oh yeah, you did mention she didn’t know much about cars.

The brake light can be dealt with the same way Tom and Ray deal with all warning lights: cover it up with a piece of black tape.

Make it 70 then - that’s slow for a Ferrari! And plenty fast enough to kill yourself.

It’s a sad tale. Husband gave her the car (his) to makeup for some bad behavior. She doesn’t even like the car. But maybe she’s angry or something and floors it accidentally.

She’s disconsolate after an argument and leaves in a huff. She just wants to get away; her thoughts are elsewhere and she’s going a bit too fast…

Yup, just ask Eddie Griffin :wink:

Here’s how I would do it: arrange for a pin in the brake pedal linkage to get pulled out, detaching the brake pedal from the master cylinder.

A length of thin wire attached to the linkage pin. A motor with a pulley to wind up the wire and pull on the pin. A timer/controller of some sort to activate the motor after a certain amount of time and when the car gets above a certain speed.

I would poke small holes in the brakeline. As the fluid slowely leaks out as she uses the brakes, the fluid gets pushed out from the pressure, the brakeing gets worse and worse. Slow changes over time + sudden need for accustomed brake power + easy of sabatoge(killer wears a broach or has a pocket knife with leather punch) = dead Sophia.

Something else to consider is when they fish the car out of the cove what evidence will they find. Wrapped wire or anything else uncommon will tip off to foul play, while a standard item that wears out is not common so therefore believable.

I think you must write these books too! This is sneaky.
Your cut…hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This actually sounds feasible. And the evidence is useful too.