Mesmerizing Mysteries and How to Master Them

By Sarah Sundin @sarahsundin

What makes a satisfying mystery? As in all novels, we need intriguing lead characters, a captivating premise, and a setting that supports the story on both a physical and emotional level. But mysteries also have a cast of suspects and an interwoven plot with suspects and investigators acting and reacting to each other. Ideally, the reader figures out the mystery around the same time as the sleuth does. Too obvious and the reader is bored. Too opaque and the reader is annoyed.

When I tackled the mystery subplot in Embers in the London Sky, I laid things down in advance so I had a clear roadmap when writing my rough draft. But a seat-of-the-pants writer may find these methods helpful when analyzing the rough draft before editing.

Suspicious Suspects

Well-developed secondary characters are necessary in any novel, but in mysteries the author needs to dig even deeper. The story needs a number of suspects, both guilty and innocent, for the sleuth to investigate.

To develop the suspects, I filled out mini-character questionnaires detailing each person’s background, personality, strengths, and weaknesses. I want to know what makes him tick.

Next, I examined why the character is qualified to be a suspect. How is he clever, resourceful, knowledgeable, or skilled? What does he bring to the table in the story?

What is her driving passion? Does she want something badly enough to break the law to get it? Along these lines, what is her greatest fear and what will she do to make sure it doesn’t come to pass? What is her greatest secret and what will she do to keep it in the dark?

How does he act suspicious? If he’s guilty, how is he concealing his actions? If he’s innocent, how does it look as if he’s concealing something? Maybe he’s hiding an affair, a surprise party, an unrelated crime, or a secret from his past.

Each suspect needs to have the classic “motive, means, and opportunity.” Each suspect must look as if he could and would commit the crime. But you can create “holes”—an airtight alibi or a seeming lack of connection to the victim.

Each suspect needs to look evil enough to have committed the crime. And—this is important—each needs to look innocent enough not to have committed the crime. Give each one, including the actual villain, some positive traits—kindness, humor, devotion, courage, standing up for the downtrodden, excellence in his field—traits that make the sleuth and the reader write him off as a suspect.

Puzzling Plot

Now to set your cast in motion. You’ll have multiple suspects and your investigators, whether amateur sleuths or detectives or both. They interact with each other, respond to story events and each other, and drop clues and red herrings. They lie, conceal, and deliberately mislead.

To keep all these stories straight, I write a brief sketch of the plot from each suspect’s point-of-view. What actions does he commit? How does he react to the story events, investigators, and other suspects? It’s important to track what each suspect does off-stage. You’ll also want to note what your investigator learns, when he does so, and whom he suspects most at each moment.

For you seat-of-the-pants writers who discover the true villain along with your point-of-view character, you can plant appropriate story elements when editing.

Done well, your conclusion will be a logical surprise, and your readers will be delighted.

Sarah Sundin is an ECPA-bestselling author of World War II novels, including Embers in the London Sky. Her novels have received the Christy Award and the Carol Award. Sarah lives in Southern California and serves as co-director of the West Coast Christian Writers Conference. Visit her on her website at www.sarahsundin.com.