The blood alcohol levels present postmortem for all murder-suicides identified via the Queensland Suicide Register were compared with those of a sample of suicides matched on age, sex, & method. All murder-suicides occurring in Queensland between 1990-1995 were studied. Of the 34 cases of murder-suicide, 32 resulted in the victims’ fatality & 28 were by firearms. An analysis of variance conducted on these data showed no significant differences between the 2 groups on the basis of alcohol consumption. This lack of difference suggests some similiarities in the behavioural antecedents of suicide & murder-suicide but further studies are needed before definitive conclusions are drawn. (4 refs.)