By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
One of the most important aspects of the cozy mystery is the puzzle itself. Aside from character development, the puzzle is the most important part of the mystery. Mystery readers tend to be avid readers who are practiced at looking for clues to the killer. Here are some thoughts about how to make sure the readers don’t solve our puzzle before we want them to.
Red herrings: To keep readers guessing, we need to provide some false leads for our sleuth. These leads frequently come from other suspects, but they can come from some of the physical (usually not forensic in a cozy) evidence surrounding the crime (something out of place, something missing, something there that shouldn’t be there).Continue reading