This week: Cunning & Cozy Edited by: Annette  
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| A cozy mystery story keeps the murder offscreen, but invites the reader to collect clues in plain sight along with the detective. Will your readers know whodunnit before the last page? |
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Cunning & Cozy
Insider Knowledge
Make sure the main character is shown the main character's expertise. This could be something entirely unrelated to solving crimes. The accidental detective in a cozy mystery would be a connoisseur of wines, an accomplished crossword puzzle solver, or an expert at knitting. Once you've created this unique character with her uncommon knowledge, make sure to have an area that she has experience with be one of the ways she solves the crime. If your hero cooks the best ramen soup, have him taste the subtle hint of poison that killed victim. If your hero is a hobby skydiver, have her explain why the victim's murderer had access to the parachute and what he did to it.
More Suspects Mean More Fun
(You have to read this title with the voice of Lunchlady Doris from The Simpsons when she says, "More testicles mean more iron.")
A cozy mystery plays out really well in small settings. That could be a small town, a train on the tracks, a ship at sea, a plane in the air, or any other small place with a limited number of people. Now, make it so that everyone has a motive to commit the crime. Next, give everyone a chance to commit the crime. A village or remote small town make for an extra juicy cozy mystery because people know each other. They will often have a shared history with everyone knowing one or more dirty secrets about the other - but nobody has the dirt on all of them as you have it as the writer.
Liars!
Just how a small setting with characters that know each other as described above have secrets, they should also have a penchant for taking creative liberties with the truth. Not everything they say has to be an outright lie, but don't just have them talk straight and tell the honest truth. Reserve that role for a child or a very old person. Everyone in between has an agenda. They may not be the perpetrator of the crime your readers are investigating, but they have things that they want to cover up nonetheless. This makes it harder for the detective to sift through the information and find the rightful clues.
Unleash Your Inner Hansel and Gretel
Leave a trail of clues sprinkled throughout the tale. Be generous so that the birds don't swoop in and pick them all before the readers have a chance to see them. A letter that is a clue could be in plain sight on a desk, but with other letters. Or a bigger object could be hiding among a pile of things on a cluttered shelf. You could also have the reader show up after the bird picked the clue. It's an item that should be there, but is not. If there is always a teddy bear from the victim's childhood next to his pillow, where is it now? Why are the reading glasses not next to the bookshelf?
Fishies
Clues and expertise and witnesses are all good bits in a mystery. They are nothing without some red herrings to create diversions. Make the solution of the problem easy through clues, but harder by faking out the reader a few times. We go back to lies. Those can create a false narrative that send the detective on a wild goose hunt. Clutter can conceal the real clue, but also show irrelevant items. Don't forget to play with the detective's feelings. Add details that cause emotional triggers, bring up wrong associations, or otherwise lead the detective down a wrong path.
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I received these replies to my last Mystery newsletter "Vernal Equinox" What does the beginning of spring mean to you?
bryanmchunter wrote: The end of winter.
Kåre เลียม Enga  wrote: Naw Ruz and the beginning of a new year. (Plus buttercups and daffodils if we're lucky.) The numbering system of my writing will flip to [178.0]. I exceeded my goal of 365 this past year. That's my usual goal.
s  wrote: End of football season, Christmas looming. September is often as wet as winter was before it, so it's a gradual phase-in from August (winter) to September (spring).
Crow wrote: Cutting grass for the next seven months. Down South, it seems to grow forever once it starts.
bobturn wrote: Gardening. Crocus and Daffodils are flowering. pansies planted. Rubarb lookUtah drought means lots of hauling gray water
Jimminy Jingle!  wrote: Let's see. The snow flees transition into sand flees. The hummingbirds come back to tell me they want their food. The bats appear once again to attack the twilight, bug filled sky...Thank goodness for indoor plumbing!
clover1963 wrote: Spring, the season of rebirth, the season of new things and happenings.
Also the rebirth of new opportunities, a time and period in the year for sowing seeds if you happen to enjoy gardening or planting trees.
By the way, should we all not be planting a tree or some trees?
The planet will thank us, for being so with spring.
Should we not be contributing to a better world and planet?
Zen  wrote: Everywhere but Earth, the Vernal equinox marks both the beginning of spring and the start of a new year. The equinox is a moment in time, and so occurs partway through a day, where the first part is in one year and the other part in the next.
On Earth, there is Astronomical Spring, which begins on the day the Vernal equinox occurs, and Meteorological Spring which begins on the first day of the month - and that month is decided by the date of Meteorological Winter. Meteorological seasons are defined as: Summer is the warmest three months, Winter is the coldest three months. Spring and Autumn/Fall are the remaining intervening months. It is quite possible that a world might have Astronomical Spring and Meteorological Spring in entirely different months.
TheBusmanPoet  wrote: Lots of beautiful trees and flowers start budding, birds are singing and then there's the mud. Yuck!
Words Whirling 'Round wrote: Spring has at least 24 distinct beginnings, spread over two different days. By definition, the vernal equinox occurs at a precise point in the earth's orbit and it lasts for only a moment. The exact time and day depends on which time zone you happen to inhabit.
Dragonfly wrote: My most favorite time of the year is spring. It's like my world is in an etch-a-sketch, it gets turned over erased and starts over. It's a time of new life, new beginnings, second chances and filled with hope, not to mention so much color and beauty.
deltablue wrote: The possibility, however slight, that I can finally put away my winter jacket.
tj-Merry Mischief Maker  wrote: The end of winter, longer days, and much more outdoor activity. On the negative side, it means the beginning of Daylight Savings Time which messes up my brain for at least a couple of weeks.
jdennis01jaj wrote: The beginning of Ha,Ha,Ha, choooooooooooooooooooo!
Khrystyna wrote: Allergies, trips to farmers markets, beach days, baseball, grilling out, and open windows.
Anna Marie Carlson wrote: It's the beginning of warm weather. 70-degree weather is usually very comfortable for me. It's also the right time to do new things.
SunBear wrote: Here in the north country, Spring is a new beginning, a "do over". Snow melts away into rushing rivers and creeks, and everything turns from white to GREEN! Longer days, warmer weather, time to go on long hikes in the woods, get on the rivers and lakes, and dust off the camping gear. It's a time to throw open the doors and windows and blow out all of the stale, dusty winter air inside, and let in the fresh, crisp air from outside. It's a time of rebirth, not only for the earth, but for all of the living things upon it. Pastures full of lambs and foals, flowers pushing up from the soil, and leaves exploding from the trees. It's a time when the birds fill the treetops; an avian choir in full-dress plumage. Spring lifts my spirit, clears my mind and refreshes my soul.
dragonwoman wrote: Aliens wanted to reset its time to Daylights Saving time. |
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Mystery: May 12, 2021 Issue [#10761]
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