Perhaps the mystery genre is your first love. Shouldn't it be easy to write about a topic you enjoy? No matter the flavor, each genre requires certain rules of writing. A writer also needs to learn the particular tips for his genre. In mystery writing, how will your detective solve the crime? Will you use induction or deductive reasoning? With deductive reasoning, the solution comes from known facts or principals. Using particular facts to solve the crime, you use induction, sometimes known as a hunch. John and Andrew McAleer remind writers to always use logic. The purpose is not to fool the reader but to present logical reasoning, even if you decide to withhold information as the case unfolds.

Do you have an opening line that not only hooks the readers but also drags them away from television, Internet, dinner dates, and piano recitals? Remember, your story competes with the reader’s many activities and interests. Your hook must make the reader care what happens; you want the reader to continue turning pages and reading your story. How do you find a line like that? Read the master storytellers and pay attention to their first chapters. Another tip: study the short and enticing movie blurbs on videos.

Best-selling author John McAleer, Ph.D. is an Edgar Allan Poe Award winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee. He has taught crime fiction at Boston College. His son, Andrew McAleer, is a mystery author and professor of crime fiction at Boston College. Mystery Writing in a Nutshell compiles their lifetime of crime fiction knowledge into a neat package. Some chapters expand with a few details, so readers needing intense information should look to a writing course or a longer work. Readers can skip to pertinent chapters or read straight through the book. One thing is sure: readers will learn the must-haves from expert crime authors. Mystery Writing in a Nutshell: your partner in crime to writing a great mystery novel!