Cozy Mysteries: Red Herrings

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Red herrings, or false leads, can add a lot to a mystery and serve different purposes.

How red herrings add to mysteries: 

They make the mystery more complex. They send the sleuth and reader off in different directions (maybe there was a false confession…someone protecting someone else, for instance).

They add length to the book.  If your mystery is too straightforward, you’re going to end up with a shorter mystery.

They keep the reader from figuring out the killer too early in the story.  Red herrings can be an argument, another body, or something that appears to be an important clue or lead. It can be an alibi that’s disproven. They all help to keep the reader from coming up with the murderer’s identity.

They help make suspects more three-dimensional.  Maybe a character appears to be a good, well-respected person…but they’re actually really wicked.  Or maybe each suspect has a secret they’re desperately trying to keep from being made public (petty theft, an affair, etc.) and the reader is led to believe that the secret might be the murder.

They divert attention from actual clues.  If you’re laying a clue and immediately follow it with a red herring (especially a red herring that seems like a major clue), you can keep the clue from sticking out too much to the reader.

They can help hide the true motive for the crime(s).  You could imply through your red herrings that the murder was committed for revenge and then later reveal a different/true motive.

They make it easy to change course later if you want to switch the murderer’s identity.  This may sound like an onerous task, but if all the suspects have motive, means, and opportunity, it’s not so hard.  One of the red herrings simply becomes an actual clue.

They can help lead to a surprise ending. I like to have a really strong red herring near the end of the book so the reader believes they know the killer…and then change direction abruptly.

If you’re a mystery reader, have you ever been so diverted by a red herring that you picked the wrong suspect as the murderer?  For writers, do you have a tough time creating strong red herrings for savvy mystery readers?

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