Writing the Cozy Mystery (2 page)

She isn’t TSTL—Too Stupid to Live—so she won’t go into a dark basement where the killer is hiding unless she suspects someone else of being the culprit or believes the situation to be harmless. She may look for the best in people, but she questions her assumptions when obvious clues fly in her face.

Having a sense of humor is a bonus and works well in a mystery series. But while incorporating a humorous slant into your stories, don’t lose sight of the fact that people are grieving after the loss of a loved one. The effect of a murder on the victim’s family shouldn’t be slighted. It’s easier when the victim is a person nobody likes, because then lots of folks may have wanted to see that person dead.

Your sleuth should have flaws as well as strengths. If she has an internal emotional issue that affects her behavior, this allows for character growth and subplots that increase story depth. A particular phobia—like heights, tight spaces, spiders, or public speaking—might challenge her ability to investigate the crime, making it necessary for her to confront her fears and rise above them. Past mistakes can come back to haunt her. Old flames can reappear to complicate her social life. Bad relationships in the past may prevent her from moving forward with a new love interest. Determine what caused these issues and how they influence current reactions to events.

Also establish the sleuth’s short and long term goals. What does she want now? How about five years ahead? Maybe her short term goal is to become financially independent. Long term, she yearns to travel and see the world. How does she plan to achieve these goals? Why does she want them? What’s holding her back from achieving her heart’s desire?

Give your character a concrete symbol of her ultimate dream. Perhaps you have a hero who wants to sail the world. Having a boat is his dream, and so he carries a tattered photo of this vessel in his pocket. Remember the hero’s boat at the end of
Romancing the Stone
? Why was achieving this goal so important to him?

To get inside your sleuth’s head, draw her Life Space. Start with a circle and write her name in it. Then add cartoon-like bubbles around her head. Inside of these bubbles, put her concerns at a given moment in time. What’s on her mind right now? This will provide insight into your character’s life.

Interview your sleuth to get a feeling for how she reacts and how she talks. Laying this groundwork will give you a glimpse into her personality. You don’t have to write extensive biographies about your characters, but you will want to know their basic educational level and other relevant data. Consider the world building details above. For example, what are your character’s favorite foods? Guilty pleasures? Cultural specialties? Frequently visited restaurants? Does she like to cook or prefer to grab fast food?

You’ll get to know your people in more depth as you write the story. Just remember to jot down the details of their lives so you can be consistent throughout the series.

Watch your timing.

In most cases, you won’t want your characters to age at the same rate as you publish your novels. Space the stories several months apart to slow the aging process. Keep a timeline for each book, so you know how old the people are from one story to the next. For kids, write down what grade they’re in to keep track of this detail. Assign birthdays to your characters so you’ll see, depending on what season your book takes place in, if a celebration is in order.

What about secondary characters?

You’ll want to develop a supporting cast of characters who are interesting, quirky, and can provide diversions through several stories. These can be colleagues, friends, or family. Some of them may become victims in future novels. Others may provide reasons for your sleuth’s personal involvement in solving the crime. Some may be on stage during each installment, while others may show up from time to time.

While you can introduce new characters in subsequent books, your readers will be looking to the recurrent cast for a feeling of welcome. They will become interested in the lives of these people and how they interact with your protagonist. This immersion in your imaginary world will propel them to buy the next story to see what happens to your heroine.

This factor is critically important to the success of your series. You want to create people readers will care about and who they will root for during the ups and downs of life. Make your characters real. Give them problems and show us how they overcome them. Have their relationships with the people who surround them grow and change like they do in reality. Give your characters choices to make. Have them make some bad decisions but move on to better themselves. Make these people friends we’d like to meet in real life.

The continuing cast springs from the background setting, which may be your sleuth’s professional milieu, her neighborhood, her family, or a particular geographical location.

Marla, the hairstylist sleuth in my
Bad Hair Day mysteries, owns and operates a hair salon in Palm Haven, Florida. Ask around and see if you can find anyone who has not stepped inside a salon for a cut or styling. It’s a great setting for a mystery series because people come and go freely, exchange gossip, and confide in their hairdressers. Despite Marla’s busy schedule, she still finds time to investigate murders.

Recurring characters include her friends, family members, and neighbors. As a developing love interest, Detective Dalton Vail comes into their relationship with a few hang-ups of his own. Regarding Marla’s hair salon clients, some may be suspects while others provide information. Scenes set in the beauty shop further the plot and reveal glimpses into Marla’s character. As you
can see, the setting becomes an integral part of your characters while acting as the springboard for their creation.

How do you select a victim?

You may already have a victim in mind based on the setting of your story. Who do you want to kill off?
The nasty principal in the local school? The lazy whiner at work? Miserly Aunt Harriet? Your deadbeat husband? Or maybe the respected keynote speaker at a writers’ conference?

We’ll worry about
why
later—that’s where passion comes into play. Right now, you’re just identifying the soon-to-be deceased. If your sleuth already knows the victim, that’s even better. It gives her a compelling reason to get involved, which in turn raises the emotional stakes and makes readers care about what happens.

How does the crime occur?

Determine how the victim is going to die. Is any kind of special knowledge required, such as details of anatomy or poisonous herbs? Who has access to this type of knowledge among your characters? If a weapon is used, who has the means to obtain it and the experience to use it? Who had access to the victim at the time of murder? Does the deceased appear to have succumbed to an accident or natural causes? Think in terms of means, motive, and opportunity.

When I plotted
Permed to Death
, my debut series title, I knew the victim would be Marla’s crotchety customer, who would die in the middle of getting a perm. How would the old lady be killed? Poison in her coffee creamer. Who had access to the special jar of powdered creamer Marla kept just for Mrs. Kravitz? The salon staff, other customers, and anyone who’d entered through the back door accidentally—or not—left open by the janitorial staff the night before. All had the opportunity. Since Marla was alone with Mrs. Kravitz and gave her the cup of coffee that led to her demise, Marla becomes the prime suspect. But if Marla didn’t do it, who did?

Who could have DUNIT?

Now it’s time to develop your suspects. Consider who has the most to gain from the victim’s death. Who knew the victim, had access to the murder scene, and might have a motive? Besides obvious characters such as relatives and colleagues, include the innocuous lawn cutter or devoted friend. Everyone acquainted with the victim becomes a potential murderer.

Draw a large circle in the center of a piece of paper and write your victim’s name inside. Now make branches extending out in all directions. At the end of each branch, draw a smaller circle and write the name of a suspect inside.

Along the length of the branch, write in the possible motive for each suspect or another secret that makes him seem suspicious. Now interconnect the branches to form a web of deceit.

Remember, one of these people is the killer. Is it the one with the strongest motive? Or is it the person who seems the least likely to have done the deed? Assign everyone a secret, whether it’s a benign one like paying for a relative’s care in an old age home, or a hidden grudge that could be a motive for murder.

Why did the crime occur?

Newspapers can provide a wealth of inspiration for motives. All sorts of reasons can become fodder for the criminal mentality. Look at the headlines and see what dirt you can find. Office manager
at a non-profit misuses funds? CEO lied about business travel? Teacher found with files of child porn? Affluent wife is part of a prostitution ring? Clip out these articles and save them for when you’re searching for motives.

Examine the crime that is the basis for your story.
Why-DUNIT? Consider your negative motivators—envy, jealousy, rage, greed, revenge, shame and fear. Basically, you’re dealing with individuals and their relationships to each other. Was the basis of the crime greed to preserve an inheritance? Fear of discovery regarding a past misdeed? A cover-up for an illegal operation? To ensure protection of a loved one? To preserve a reputation?

Here’s an example of how you can link these motives among your suspects.

1. Alice is resentful of Dara, her boss, because
   Dara denied her a job promotion.
   

1. Dara is murdered. Did Alice kill her out of spite? Or does she have a stronger reason?
   

1. Alice is secretly having an affair with Brent, who is Dara’s business partner.
   

1. If Dara had found out, she would have fired Alice. This gives Alice a credible motive to eliminate Dara. Or maybe Dara had already discovered Alice’s liaison with Brent.
   

1. But it also gives Brent a motive, because Dara thought Brent cared for
   her
   . If she found out about his affair with Alice, Dara might have revealed his corrupt dealings with one of their subsidiaries. He couldn’t allow this to happen.
   

1. With Dara dead, Brent takes over her half of the company. Money is another possible motive for him.
   

1. Michael, Dara’s brother, is glad she’s taken a family secret to the grave. He doesn’t know that Dara confided in Brent.
   

And so on.

If you haven’t yet decided who the murderer is, you can pick the suspect with the strongest motive. This brings us to the next question. Why has the murderer decided to kill the victim
now
? What change has occurred or is imminent that threatens the killer? Or what new opportunity has arisen for him to carry through his plan? There has to be a reason why the murder occurs during your tale instead of at some other time in the backstory.

Writing Exercise

Sally Snoop and her friends attend a writers’ conference where they meet keynote speaker Allison Highbrow. Allison makes a snide remark about the hot guy Sally met at the bar, implying his favors are nothing special. Later, Allison gives her speech, saying she’s happy to be back in her home town where her writing career started. During the Vampire Ball that night, someone sends Allison a complimentary glass of wine. Her drinking habits are well known so when she keels over, people figure she’s had one too many. It turns out she’s dead. The drink was poisoned.

Now plot this story using the diagram above, keeping in mind the following points.

Who is the sleuth? What’s at stake for her on a personal basis? Who are the suspects? What does each suspect have to hide? What is the villain’s motive?