Missy Jenkins Musical Mysteries

                 Mystery, Music and Murder!

        Rachel Yost Amish Mysteries

                                Lancaster County, PA

                               Books by Suzanne 

                                                                Editing Services

Suzanne Flaig, author and editor

My Blog

Blog

« Back to Blog « Older Entry | Newer Entry »

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: WHAT'S THEIR MOTIVE?

Posted on July 11, 2019 at 4:22 PM
Every mystery is filled with the usual suspects to keep the reader guessing "whodunit" until the end. Have at least four characters in your novel who have possible motives to commit the crime. They will be hiding secrets, lying to your protagonist, and acting suspiciously throughout the book; they each may have a reason to want the victim dead. But only one is lying about being the killer. Your job as the author is to trick the reader into believing right up until the final disclosure--that any one of those suspects could be guilty. Here are some ways to do that:
  1. Motives - Your usual suspects should all have different plausible reasons to want to see the victim dead. For example, the wife who's having an affair and wants to cash in on the insurance money. (Sure, it's cliché, but as one of my favorite TV cops likes to say, "It's always the wife, it's always the wife...") Or, a long-lost illegitimate son who was rejected when he tried to reconnect with his father. Or, a business partner who was caught embezzling the company's funds. You get the picture--the possibilities are yours to create.
  2. Organize your clues - Write down those reasons and connect them to the victim in some sort of chart, or list, or whatever method works best for you. Now your suspects are lined up, including the one you know is guilty. You have at least four different ways the crime might have happened. That also gives you several different paths for your sleuth to follow, secrets to uncover, blind alleys to blunder into, then finally, to find her way to the real killer. It helps to really know your characters and their secrets. Write a bio of each suspect, why they want the victim dead, what they're lying about or hiding, so that you can plant clues about them along the way.
  3. Misdirection - Like a magician, a mystery writer uses misdirection and red herrings to lead the reader astray. Suspect #1 must have done it; then you're sure it was suspect #3; oh no, it can't be him, suspect #4 is the logical culprit, but then suddenly she's the next victim! And so it goes until the end. Agatha Christie was the best at keeping us guessing and she always came up with a new twist at the end.
  4. Lies - Have your characters lie: to your sleuth, to the police, to each other. All your suspects have their secrets, so they all have their reasons to lie. It makes them real, too. We all keep secrets, we all lie sometimes, but often small things can be misinterpreted. Everyone is lying, but only one is lying about being a murderer.
  5. Dialogue - Use dialogue to show motive. As characters speak, they reveal their true personalities. The action tags and movements show the characters' emotions as they carry on a conversation, and how they react to the other people. All these things can give the reader subtle hints and clues about each character.
Always remember - each one of your "usual suspects" should have a solid motive so that the reader can believe, right up to the end, any one of them could be the killer!

Coming soon - PART FOUR: BUILDING SUSPENSE

Categories: Missy Jenkins mysteries, mystery, writing, music, writing, editing

Post a Comment

Oops!

Oops, you forgot something.

Oops!

The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.

166 Comments

Reply example of outline about global warming
11:44 AM on July 17, 2019 
Write a good thriller may be a very difficult task. I want to say a big thanks for sharing with us this informative post. I like your writing style. I will definitely use your advice to make my writings better.
Reply things to do
10:43 AM on July 23, 2019 
wow, great, I was wondering how to cure acne naturally. and found your site by google, learned a lot, now i’m a bit clear. I’ve bookmark your site and also add rss. keep us updated.
Reply essays reviews
4:29 PM on August 1, 2019 
The coding paper was one of the toughest paper for me while in a graduate time. I really hard work on it and now am comfortable with the medium. Now I can deal with various language and coding platforms.
Reply help with assignment
11:19 AM on August 5, 2019 
Kevin Spacey and Stephen Baldwin in The Usual Suspects (1995) Bryan Singer in The ... also, a veteran, chase a sequential executioner who uses the seven dangerous sins as his thought processes. .... In this present reality where nothing is the thing that it appears you must look past.
Reply Sammy
6:40 AM on August 10, 2019 
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
product boxes
Reply Wanda D. Carney
9:30 AM on August 13, 2019 
As a leader, you need to identify and focus on the inner strengths of the business. That is the root of any business. Imagine the business as a tree which will grow with time and give fruits For More Information Visit.
Reply hypothesis of a dissertation
9:51 AM on August 19, 2019 
Wow! This is really nice piece of advice. I like that you are presenting your ideas in a proper form. I wish you good luck in this investigation. I hope I will understand their motive of crime.
Reply cheap mens polo shirts
2:07 PM on August 30, 2019 
I recently noticed your Hostgator coupon website back i are generally looking through which on a daily basis.
Reply online essay service
2:29 AM on September 1, 2019 
example of outline about global warming says...
Write a good thriller may be a very difficult task. I want to say a big thanks for sharing with us this informative post. I like your writing style. I will definitely use your advice to make my writings better.

From I learned from the movie "The Usual Suspects" the obvious suspect is not the one. Look for the Keyzer Soze of the bunch and start from there. The one who shows obvious signs of not being incapable of committing a crime might not be the true culprit most of the time. How many murders have been committed by a husband or wife against their spouse? Police detectives will go through the usual suspects like robbers, a colleague who has a grudge, etc. But there are many cases where the mastermind turned out to be the closest person to the victim - the husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend.
Reply Suzanne Flaig
7:24 PM on September 7, 2019 
Thanks to all who read my blog and made helpful and pertinent replies. The final installment of Plotting a Mystery, is "The Twist Ending." Watch for it today!
Reply how many levels in toon blast
6:51 AM on September 19, 2019 
We do not promote illegal methods in our article. Instead of focusing on a small game and discovering strategic tips that are useful for beginners and professional players.
Reply ben
2:17 PM on September 30, 2019 
thanks
Reply iot security
11:22 AM on October 6, 2019 
This is a shrewd online journal. I would not joke about this. You have such a great amount of information about this issue, thus much energy. You likewise know how to make individuals rally behind it, clearly from the reactions.
Reply cheap vivienne westwood
3:05 AM on November 8, 2019 
Vivienne Westwood Anglomania available to buy online, a wide collection of mens and womens jeans and tops and also fab cut dresses and tops.
Reply badass khajiit names
9:43 AM on November 8, 2019 
These appearances can vary greatly from breed to breed, with some Khajiits resembling the domestic cat and others Khajiits resembling large bipolar jaguars
Reply Kinsmysteries.com
1:44 PM on November 24, 2019 
My real time work with facebook Im making over $2000 a month operating low maintenance. I continued hearing distinctive people divulge to me how an lousy lot cash they can make on line so I selected to research it. All topics considered, it become all legitimate and has without a doubt changed my life. For more statistics visit below site>>>>>>>www.box.pays12.com
Reply Florence J. Castro
10:01 AM on December 9, 2019 
Most of us want to have good income but don't know how to do that on Internet there are a lot of methods to earn huge sum, but whenever Buddies try that they get trapped in a scam/fraud so I thought to share with you a genuine and guaranteed method for free to earn huge sum of money at home anyone of you interested should visit the page. I am more than sure that you will get best result best Of Luck for new Initiative...Here For MORE INFO PLEASE just check this SITE............http://chilp.it/a2b7ebc
Reply frases
11:42 AM on December 11, 2019 
Actually its very nice site! this is my first visit on this site my friend gave the link of this site! and site is really great
Reply huis te koop Spanje
8:43 PM on January 7, 2020 
Thank you, I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far.
Reply Bluehost discounts coupons
12:59 PM on January 25, 2020 
Wanda D. Carney says...
As a leader, you need to identify and focus on the inner strengths of the business. That is the root of any business. Imagine the business as a tree which will grow with time and give fruits For More Information Visit.

I like this article because it provides relevant information for us and I want to be keep updated with you for more posts.

Categories

Tradition and Turmoil: An Amish Mystery


Rachel Yost struggles with her faith and her marriage as she solves the murder of her neighbor's teenage son. A new mystery, set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A work in progress, watch this space for upcoming news.


/
Lightbox image