Writing the Cozy Mystery (3 page)

Beyond the puzzle of the whodunit, various techniques exist that you can use to ratchet up the tension. You’ll want to hook the reader in your first paragraph by hinting at a turning point or crisis in the main character’s life. Start with action or dialogue to draw your reader into the story.

Once you’ve gained the reader’s interest by creating likable characters, put those characters at risk. What’s at stake if the sleuth fails? Her life? Her reputation? Her job? Another character’s life she cares about?

Throw in foreshadowing so the reader anticipates bad things about to happen, but be careful to avoid author intrusion. Don’t say things like, “If only she knew what waited around the corner….” Who can see what’s around the corner if not your viewpoint character? You, the author, that’s who. Remember to stay in your character’s head.

Adding a time bomb raises suspense. This is a deadline beyond which disaster happens. False alarms can also heighten tension. The sleuth gets a scare but it’s not real. The next time, she’s slow to react but this is when it counts. Or isolate your characters. Being alone and out of range makes things scarier. It’s worse if she left her cell phone home by mistake and has no way to summon aid.

Remember to follow action sequences with reaction and reflection. Your character needs some down time, not chase scene after chase scene. This is when you can have a romantic interlude, or have her review the suspects with her sidekick.

End each chapter with a hook so the reader is compelled to turn the page. For faster pacing, use short paragraphs and sentences and steer clear of lengthy description. Avoid flashbacks and long passages of introspection. Work backstory into thoughts or dialogue in small snippets and only include what is necessary to the current crisis. Also make sure each conversation has a purpose. Rambling dialogue kills the pacing same as expository writing.

Show, don’t tell. Include conflict in every scene. You want to keep the story moving forward and not get dragged down by sludge. The tension should mount until the final confrontation. For this reason, it’s often a good idea to throw in another dead body midway through your story. Or provide a plot twist that sends your sleuth in a new direction. Middles aren’t for getting bogged down. They’re for raising the stakes and deepening the puzzle.

How do the suspects divert attention from the killer?

Give each of your suspects a secret, whether or not it relates to the victim. This will make your sleuth suspicious about what the other characters have to hide. Some of the secrets may be good ones, such as supporting a disabled aunt, or they might involve criminal activity that has nothing to do with the murder. Or the suspects might all have a motive for wanting an unlikeable character dead.

Don’t forget to assign alibis, although not every character will have one. Some may be hesitant to reveal their whereabouts, while others may lie about where they were at the time of death. Still others may offer an alibi that contradicts something said by another suspect.

An additional ploy is to create two criminals, one who is the killer, and another person who has a personal vendetta for a different reason. This focuses the sleuth’s attention on tracking down a seemingly guilty individual, while the actual villain emerges to pose the real threat in the final confrontation.

In other words, you don’t want your road to go directly from Point A to Point B. Throw in as many curves or red herrings as you can. If your synopsis changes during the course of the story as new plot twists make themselves known, that’s a cause for celebration. Story Magic has come into play, and if you’re surprised, your readers will be, too. You can always go back and rewrite the synopsis accordingly before presenting it to your editor.

How does the sleuth fit together the clues?

Working backwards, figure out how each secret will be revealed to the sleuth. This will give you clues to plant throughout your story. How is the clue uncovered? It could be through omission, wherein something is missing from the scene. This may not be noticed by your sleuth right away, but later that item becomes significant. Or something could be out of place. If you disguise a clue by mingling it with other knickknacks, for example, the reader may not realize its presence until further along. Or you present the clue, then immediately distract the reader with a secondary character walking on scene or another exciting event. Having suspects rat on each other is another way of revealing information.

Think about the killer’s viewpoint as you weave your storyline. Every move the sleuth makes brings her closer to the truth, and so the bad guy should make a counter move. Along the way, he might let slip an important clue. You can give him a false trail or a secret to make him appear guilty, and when that particular secret is revealed, it diminishes his apparent guilt. Or use red herrings involving other suspects to distract from the trail leading in his direction.

Regarding structure, think in terms of three acts. Act One involves the crime and introduction of the suspects. We, the readers, get a hint that these people are harboring secrets.

In Act Two, the sleuth interviews the suspects and delves deeper into their psyche. We know definitely that everyone is a suspect as potential motives are unveiled. The sleuth gains information through purposeful meetings, casual encounters, or unexpected contacts.

Your heroine might meet an informant who wants to get paid or get even with one of the suspects. Or she can trick a source through provocation, bluffing, or blackmail. Characters confide in her and offer news about other suspects. Suspects may even confess their own secrets
as the story progresses. Often, the sleuth has a friend who can provide technical data. Tracing a paper trail is another means of discovering buried details.

Act Three is when all the secrets are revealed, the number of suspects is narrowed, and the killer is exposed. It’s like an onion. Each layer is peeled away until the inner core remains, and that’s the murderer. A confrontation with the killer ensues. Readers of cozies expect this final conflagration. Make sure your heroine gets herself out of the fix and doesn’t rely on acts of nature, weather anomalies, or the cops to rescue her. Give her the means or skills early in your story to make her actions believable.

As you near the finish line for your story, the tendency is to speed things up. You can’t wait to be done and take a break. You’re tired of the story and want to end it already. Or you’re approaching your deadline and have to finish in a hurry. Yet this is when you need to slow down and let the finale unfold in exquisite detail.

The heroine’s confrontation with the villain should reveal every heartbeat, every pulse-pounding moment of fear. This is when you want time to slow so you can catch every nuance. Yes, the pacing must be quick, but you shouldn’t cheat the reader out of emotional reactions, either during the scene or afterward. And the fight sequence, if there is one, shouldn’t be rushed.

How about when the villain has been defeated? Consider having a Wrap Scene where your protagonist shares a quiet moment with her friends, love interest or family as they review recent events. Your sleuth comes to a realization about herself that prompts change. You always want to have this moment of character growth. A static protagonist who never changes will lose reader interest over time. Your heroine’s relationships must evolve like in reality.

The last chapter is where you should tie up any remaining loose ends and perhaps frame the story with the same people or setting as the opening sequence. Putting some distance between yourself and the work will help you gain perspective. Go back after two weeks, if you have that luxury, and read the story again. A good idea is to write down all the questions that might arise in the reader’s mind. See if you can check off each one as answered during your read-through.

When you reach the finale, flesh out any spots that are sparse and be sure you’ve covered all the bases. Your finale will dictate what impression readers take away when they close the book. For a series, you may want to insert a hook for the next story. A line or two will do, but it leaves an open thread for readers to pursue in the next installment. Just make sure this mystery is completely solved so your reader goes away with a sense of satisfaction.

When you’re writing a mystery series, special considerations arise that do not occur in a single-title book. You have the same main characters in each installment. The background setting remains the same, unless your protagonist is a globe-trotter or goes away for a weekend jaunt. You’ll have the problem of repeating backstory necessary to new readers but potentially boring your followers. Here are some pointers to avoid pitfalls.

1. Give your sleuth personal motives for solving each mystery. This engages the reader’s emotions more fully so she’ll care about what happens to your sleuth over time.
   

1. Have your protagonist realize something new about
   herself to add emotional depth. Character growth will bring more readers back to your series than if your sleuth never changes. Remember, characters compel readers, not crimes alone.
   

1. Spin a thread that continues throughout the series. In my Bad Hair Day stories, Marla falls for Detective Dalton Vail, but their budding romance navigates a rocky road. He comes with a twelve-year-old daughter and has trouble letting go of his dead wife’s memory. Marla comes with an aversion to having children due to a tragedy in her past. Before they can share a future together, these two people have to surmount their problems and move forward.
   

A developing love interest is a common subplot. You could also devise an ongoing search for a missing heirloom, a problematic relationship with a grumpy boss, or a clingy relative. The idea is to make the reader eager for the next installment in your sleuth’s personal life.

1. Make your setting broad enough so new people can come to town. Readers of this genre expect dead bodies to pop up in each story. However, to make this plausible book after book, give your sleuth a job where contact with the public is commonplace. Or make the setting somewhere that tourists visit or business conferences might be held. The idea is to make your environment a locale where your sleuth can encounter new people on a regular basis.
   

1. Be wary of leaving the setting that your readers anticipate. Too many forays out of Townsville will disappoint fans who want to revisit familiar locales. For variety, consider having your sleuth track a suspect out of town for a chapter or two. Or move the setting for one book and then go back to home base for the next, after your series is established.
   

I’ve done this every few titles.
Dead Roots
, book number seven, finds Marla and Dalton on a long weekend at a haunted resort on Florida’s west coast. Since it is Thanksgiving week, Marla means to introduce Dalton to her extended family. Murder, mayhem, and ghosts ensue during their brief vacation. In
Killer Knots
, book number nine, they go on a Caribbean cruise with a killer onboard. Then it’s back to home base at Marla’s salon until book number twelve, when Marla and Dalton take a delayed honeymoon to Arizona. This change of scenery gives me a break from monotony along with my readers, but do it too often, and fans will get annoyed.

1. Create a recurrent cast of characters who follow your protagonist from book to book. Make them interesting enough so each can grow their own subplot. These characters become "friends" to your readers, who look forward to revisiting them in each story.
   

1. Introduce backstory in dialogue as much as possible. Keep out details unnecessary to the particular story you’re telling. You’ll want to clue new readers in to what happened before without giving away the plots of previous stories, so keep this background material to a minimum. Hinting at secrets revealed in your other books may stimulate new readers to buy your backlist, but you do not want to reveal the killer from previous stories.
   

1. Make sure each book stands on its own with a story that goes full circle and has a satisfying end. Folks who haven’t read your previous books should regard this volume as a separate entity. Readers should be able to jump into any story in your series without confusion.
   

How do you keep track of all the characters?

It’s helpful to keep two files, one for the recurrent characters and another for the group of suspects in each story. Define their key personality traits and see if you can find pictures online at the royalty-free image sites to help you visualize them. Or use actors for your inspiration. Keep the cast of continuing characters updated with each installment, and transfer this file to your new folder when you start the next book. Your suspects should be in a separate file as these will change for each story.