Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

So you’re busily cooking up your mystery recipe, fully realizing some innocent victim or two will die as a result of tasting it.  One of the most important ingredients in your fatal stew is the suspect.

Choosing suspects: Who murdered your victim?  Suspects aren’t usually eager to be classified as such.  It’s up to your police detective or sleuth to connect the dots.  Was there a public argument between your victim and suspect?  Did your victim confide in their friend about a suspect (if so, is the friend in danger, too?)  Would the suspect gain monetarily from the victim’s death?  Was there another obvious reason besides money (revenge, love, hate) that could have motivated a suspect?  Who was close to your victim?  Who loved or hated him?

Number of  suspects: Try not to bog your reader down with too many suspects.  If you’re writing a 65,000– 85,000 word book, cramming in ten suspects with varying motives, means, and opportunity can make the plot pretty confusing. Usually, the smaller the number of suspects, the better.  Cozies frequently confine the number of suspects to five or six and let the reader get well-acquainted with them. 

Suspect names: Try not to name your suspects with similar-sounding names or with names that start with the same letter (if you have a Kate, don’t have a Karen.)  You don’t want your reader to find out the name of the killer and then have to flip through your book to find out who they were. 

Suspects who move along the plot: Your suspects are going to want to stay out of jail.  To do this, they might lie about their motive or opportunity or implicate other suspects.  If their implications are false (or don’t lead to the actual killer), they’re red herrings.   The suspects can also provide genuine clues to the murderer (perhaps a clue that the suspect doesn’t even realize is key to the case) or can  clumsily reveal their own guilt (accidentally breaking their alibi, revealing knowledge that only the killer could know, displaying guilt, nervousness, or other out-of-character traits.)

Suspect deaths:   Sometimes mystery writers will kill one of the book’s prime suspects.  Not only can this add more urgency to the plot (this murderer must be caught before he/she can kill again), but it can add another layer of depth to the mystery–why was this particular suspect killed?  What did they know? 

Think creative writers don’t have to work on business writing?  Think again.  It’s as important (or maybe more so) to have a well-crafted query or cover letter as it is to have a manuscript that’s as flawless as possible.  Do you have a blog or website?  If not, you need to rethink….a web presence is a great tool to help you get your foot in the door.  After your foot is there, your blog or website can help you with your promotion efforts.

Here is a great blog entry on the Urban Muse website on crafting a query letter (it was written with freelance writers in mind, but apply the tips to your manuscript query.)  Had your query rejected?  Don’t take it personally: here is a blog covering the context of rejection on an old post  on the Slushkiller website (thanks to Et  in Arcaedia, ego’s post for pointing it out.)

Tips for making your blog reader-worthy can be found here at the Write to Done blog. 

Polish up your business writing and you’ll soon start seeing results. Just make sure that your manuscript is completely proofread and in as perfect a condition as you can make it–don’t waste the manuscript requests you receive from agents and editors.

One of the most important elements in your mystery novel is your detective.  Depending on the type of book you’re writing (police procedural, thriller, cozy), your detective might be a member of the police department or a gifted amateur who unwittingly becomes involved in your case. 

If you plan on writing a series, your detective’s personality needs to be one that you can explore over the course of several books.  There are many wonderful mystery series featuring the same detectives that you can read.  It’s nice to have a sense of how other authors create interesting characters for their readers to enjoy book after book.  Interesting sleuths include: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, P.D. James’ Adam Dalgleish, Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, Anne George’s Southern Sisters, and Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity. 

M.C. Beaton’s series feature two intriguing detectives: Hamish McBeth (a police constable in a Scottish village) and Agatha Raisin (formerly a busybody, currently a private investigator.)  Hamish is a lovable officer–a gangling man who loves his village and desperately tries to prevent his own promotion (which would mean he’d have to leave the place he loves.)  The readers tune in each book to check in with the recurring characters, see what’s happening with Hamish’s disastrous love life, and see how he plays down the fact that he has solved another case.  Agatha Raisin, on the other hand, sometimes causes as many problems for the police department as she solves.  It’s fun to pick up a new Agatha Raisin book and see what trouble Agatha is in this time. 

If you do choose to have an amateur detective, make sure that he or she is involved in the case in a natural and believable way.  It’s a stretch to believe that the sleuth just decides to play detective one day, for example.  It makes a lot more sense that they would become involved if they or someone close to them is a suspect (and they want to clear their name) or if the victim was someone important to them.

It’s nice for the detectives, amateur or professional, to have their own foibles to deal with.  I loved it when even Christie’s brilliant Hercule Poirot had faulty reasoning or made an error.  Of course, he always figured it out in the end, but when he took us along on a red herring it was always fun.

Some publishers and agents are looking for books with specific hooks for the readers (this is especially true in the cozy mystery genre.)  Does your sleuth also do crosswords?  Quilt? Scrapbook?  Hobbies can be tools to reel in readers. 

In Christie’s books, Poirot usually explained his reasoning and unveiled the murderer in a room full of suspects.  That’s less common today in mysteries.  The reader is more likely to find the detective locked into a dangerous confrontation with the killer at the book’s denouement.  In a police procedural, you might find a similar situation–perhaps the police are desperately trying to locate the murderer (once they discover his identity) before he kills someone else.  Or maybe the police have realized who the killer is at the same time they’re recognized that a particular person close to him will be in danger. 

Whatever personality and foibles you create for your detective, remember that they can help to make or break your mystery novel. 

Several of the mystery writers I know really have a lot of fun with their victim.  Sometimes an author purposefully makes the victim similar to someone he’s had a  run-in with or someone they didn’t like in high school.  There are plenty of unpleasant people out there and it’s easy to make an amalgam of them to form your perfect murder victim.

The victim needs to be someone murderable (I know, it’s a made-up word).  In other words, someone who has a few enemies.  Actually, this is a rule that I’m playing with a little for the book I’m writing now.  I start the book with everyone having warm fuzzy feelings for the future victim, but then we start finding out a little bit more about her.  Then we know why several people would like to bump her off.  Otherwise, why on earth would your victim legitimately be murdered?  Unless you’re writing a thriller with a serial killer who just kills random people.

I’ve read books before where the victim is dead on page one.  Later on, we find out more about the victim through flashbacks (not my favorite device) or through interviewing people who knew him.  This can be really interesting, if done right.  I found that I was very curious to find out more about the victim and having the information doled out in tantalizing bits and pieces held my interest. 

I’ve also read books where the reader was fully introduced and vested in the victim before the murder.  This works, too.  The reader has gotten to know the victim and has more of a personal interest in who killed him. 

How gruesome is the murder of your victim?  This depends on the type of book you’re writing.  If you’re writing a cozy mystery, the murder will probably take place off-stage and you won’t provide your reader with many gory details.  If you’re writing a police procedural or a thriller, you can usually get away with a lot more.  But keep in mind that if a book gets too graphic, you could lose some readers.

  Sometimes a task can be easier if you make yourself a checklist to ensure you’re covering all your bases.  With that idea in mind, here’s a brief checklist you might want to consult before sending your manuscript off into the big, bad world of editors and agents. Or, it might be more helpful to think about these things while you’re still plotting your novel.

Genre: Have you got a clear genre for your book? Thriller, cozy, police procedural, hard boiled? If you can’t identify your genre to an agent or editor, your manuscript won’t go too far.

Have you followed the rules of writing a mystery?: (see Twenty Mystery Writing Rules )

Setting: Frequently, setting plays a role in a mystery novel. It limits the number of suspects if it’s a remote island, for example. For a thriller, you may want a faster-paced, big-city environment. See how setting plays a role in your book. If it doesn’t, you may want to consider tweaking your manuscript.

An Engaging Beginning: Have you started out with a bang? Or have you started out with some messy backstory that no one wants to wade through at the beginning of your book? Make sure you’ve lured your reader in from the very beginning so they’ll want to stick with you.  Think twice before using a prologue or using flashbacks at the beginning of your manuscript.

A Murder that Happens in First 50 pages or so: Don’t wait until you’re half-way through the book for a body to be discovered. Your reader may give up on you.

Protagonist: This will be your sleuth or police detective. Are they likable people or at least people interesting enough for your readers to want to spend time with? What special talents do they have that make them capable of solving the crime? Are they easy to talk to? Have they spent many years in the police department? What sets them apart?

Suspects: Do your suspects all have motive, means, and opportunity? Does their motive make sense and is it believable? Have you given the reader a chance to meet each suspect and learn about them? Have your suspects misdirected your readers and provided some red herrings? Have they lied to the sleuth and the reader? Do they have secrets? Do they have some depth?

Murderer: The killer will need to be fairly clever so he isn’t caught right away. Is your culprit believable but not obvious?  If the murderer ends up being the least likely candidate, have you made his motivation realistic? 

Clues:  The clues need to be made available to the reader as well as the detective.  You have to be fair with your reader in providing them the clues, but make sure they don’t stand out too obviously in the scene.  If they do, think about pointing the reader’s/detective’s attention in another direction, quickly.  There also needs to be more than one clue–preferably three or more. 

Red Herrings:  Make sure your red herrings don’t last the entire length of the book—that’s generally considered unfair.  Red herrings are a good diversion to mislead your reader, but  they can be taken too far. If the entire focus of your murder was blackmail and the ensuing investigation is wrapped up with blackmail victims and scurrilous gossip: and then the real motivation ends up being revenge or obtaining life insurance money,  most readers will end up wanting to throw your book in frustration. 

Victims: You know you need at least one. Do you need two? Do you need more? (Remember that some genres, like cozies, generally don’t have a high body count.)

Element of Danger: Does your sleuth or detective know too much? Are they getting too close to the truth? Adding some action or a touch of danger can help with sagging middles of books.

Exciting Chapter Endings: Don’t let your reader put down your book and go to sleep. Do you have some exciting chapter endings so they’ll want to go on reading?

Resolution: Did you catch the bad guys in the end? Did you tie up all the loose ends that you created? Did you explain how the sleuth/police followed the clues?

Errors: Have you checked all the grammar, spelling, mechanics? And double-checked it? Have you trimmed any pointless dialogue, scenes that go on too long? Everything you write should have a purpose….there’s no time to dilly-dally.  Double-check to make sure you haven’t made any major changes in your manuscript–did your character start out being middle-aged and then end up being older or younger?  Did your story start out during the dog days of summer and then suddenly change to spring? Make sure you read your manuscript from start to finish to eliminate any content errors.