by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Suspect interviews aren’t quite as simple as they may seem.   Something that may seem very straightforward for a police officer can be very different for a gifted amateur.

Here are some possible pitfalls and some workarounds for interviewing your cozy mystery suspects:

Why should anyone give an amateur sleuth information at all?  Unlike a police interview where a suspect might feel compelled to answer questions, an interview with an amateur sleuth is more like a conversation gone wrong.  Suddenly, the person the suspect is talking with becomes very nosy about uncomfortable events or something rather personal.

There are different ways to go about this.  You could have your sleuth be someone especially likeable and easy to talk to…someone that people automatically open up to. You could have your sleuth be a professional snoop: maybe a journalist or a private investigator. Or you could go the route where your sleuth is discounted and underestimated by the suspect:  Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple is an excellent example of this.Continue reading