by Elizabeth S. Craig
There’s something to be said for making mysteries less complicated. It’s no fun for the reader when the murderer is revealed, and they’re not sure who the character is. It’s also no fun if the mystery is so convoluted that it’s hard to follow.
I’ve read a couple of mysteries lately that were very confusing. Once the puzzle was solved, I had to go back through the book to try to see how the pieces fit together. I read reviews of the books, curious what other readers thought. Like me, they’d been lost in the plot.
Here are a few tips to keep your mysteries complex without making them too complicated:
Limit suspect number: I usually work with five suspects, with one of them eliminated in some fashion during the course of the book. If you have too few suspects, the mystery might not have enough of a surprise ending. Too many, and they’re just tough to keep up with.
Remind readers who the suspects are and how they connect to the victim: You can work with a slightly larger cast of suspects, but you’ll need to remind readers who the suspects are if they’ve been off-stage for too long. It’s also important to quickly remind readers who the suspect is (David, Jack’s former employee, entered the shop).
Avoid similar-sounding names: Avoid names that start with the same letter, or that rhyme with each other (Bill and Bob, Stan and Dan).
Cut out unnecessary and confusing elements: In one of my recent mysteries, I’d outlined two cold case deaths that the sleuth was investigating. When I was writing the book, though, it seemed confusing to have two deaths that had taken place a decade or more earlier. Instead, I had one cold case death and one recent death of a character who knew too much.
If you write mysteries, what have I missed? As a reader, what elements do you find confusing in books?
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