Mystery Monday 1 – Basic Mystery Tropes Readers Want
Basic Mystery Tropes and How to Start Writing a Mystery
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The One Important First Step to Write a Killer Mystery Have a question? Post it here in Comments.
Zara
Zara
Photo by Gaumont – © 2000 A Sidekick Amplifies Your Sleuth and the Story The sidekick is a traditional literary archetype that will enhance your mystery novel. The sidekick can be a working partner or a friend. The sidekick’s role in the story will vary depending on how you choose to amplify your sleuth with…

Allowing your reader to imagine character details in the theater of the mind develops connections with your story.
The Hidden Treasures in Your Setting When I first wrote mysteries, I was in awe of writers who could create clues out of the setting. I read Pompeii by Robert Harris and was astonished at how the clues in the story were directly related to volcanic action, mystifying the young aqueduct engineer. The best way to discover…
A Setting in Time At the time of Argolicus Rome was neither the capital city of Italy nor the center of the Roman Empire. King Theoderic, ruled Italy from the north of Italy in Ravenna and the Roman Empire was centered in Constantinople. In The Roman Heir Argolicus and Nikolaos leave Rome to begin his…

Without an immediate connection with your sleuth, a reader is not motivated to follow them solving the puzzle in the rest of your novel.
Discovery and Your Sleuth Once a crime is discovered and your sleuth takes on finding the killer, his next step is to unearth possible suspects. As he visits close friends, work colleagues, the coffee shop owner where the victim went each morning, your sleuth begins to create a picture of the victim’s world. The picture your sleuth…