  Mystery
This week: Clue in Educators Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe
"If there were no mystery left to explore life would get rather dull, wouldn't it?"
Sidney Buchman
A mystery is an answer in search of a question; knowing what's been done and journey to discovering the how and why of it. It deals with something unknown to the reader, which the writer reveals in bits and pieces with both subtle and overt clues, drawing the reader into the puzzle. Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Mystery Newletter, where we enter and explore the puzzle for ourselves and our readers.all that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream
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School has started and reading, writing and arithmetic are back in full swing. When you think of teachers, you may not think of sleuths but there are some cozy mysteries that feature teachers as the protagonists or heroes.
Cozy mysteries are easy, fun reading with exciting plots and great characters without all the gory details. The main character is not usually affiliated with the police department or detective work. For instance, in this case, there are teachers solving the murders.
A well known cozy mystery series featuring a teacher that comes to mind is Jessica Fletcher in the Murder She Wrote Mystery Series by Donald Bain. Jessica is a retired English teacher and author who finds a murder wherever she goes. The way murder follows her, would you want her in your town or city?
And what of the Kate Fansler mysteries penned by Amanda Cross (pen name for Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, a professor and author of academic tomes as well as her mystery series). Kate Fansler also appeared in an anthology of break-out short stories. Kate Fansler is a professor by 'trade' and 'her' mysteries have a background in education.
Now Donald Bain's background is not as a professor or teacher, but a writer and jazz musician. Which proves that you don't necessarily need to be one to write about a teacher, professor, librarian who pursues clues to solve crimes.
Think about one of your teachers, perhaps the one who always found the hidden gum or the cheat sheets or who put the chameleon in the girls' bathroom. How did he or she do it? By following clues through a maze of desks, lockers, rooms? By questioning students and watching their expression or perhaps by planting mis-cues for the potential culprits (remember, in a cozy just about everyone is a suspect) Now take him or her to the next level if you will, perhaps finding the missing coach by searching for the missing football trophy taken from a bloodied glass case which was under surveillance at the time. See where I'm going? The law would likely think the culprit was the coach who cut his hand while breaking the case and leave it at that. But the teacher, at the request of students, or his/her own knowledge of the coach, would think that too obvious and would undertake the research (sleuthing) to uncover the truth or falsity of that assumption, solving the crime, whatever it turns out to be.
You see from the example above the building blocks of a cozy mystery:
 A possibly unlikeable victiim (was the coach a real ****buster)?
A confined environment (a school with student body, staff and surrounding neighborhood)
Interesting or quirky characters with some personal connection with the victim. Perhaps an unhappy sports-spouse, a relative, a team member cut from the team, someone who lost the job to the coach perhaps.
A red herring or two, perhaps a team member with a phony alibi (turns out he was with his secret paramour at the time), or maybe an assistant coach who, we learn, really didn't want the coach's job, but pretended to so his buds would not call him a wanna-be or geek.
Give the teacher a motive for solving the case - perhaps his/her child was on the team, and the evidence points towards the child, or maybe the teacher feels the crime is not isolated and others (human or object) may come to harm.
Provide clues so the reader has the chance to solve the crime (or even uncover the real crime - was this a murder, was it mere theft, was the coach merely selling the gold plate, was it a prank gone wrong and caught by the coach, you see the possibilities are varied and clues and mis-cues will help the reader, and your educator-sleuth solve the crime and tie up lose ends without cheating (remember this is an educational mystery, so no 'cheating')
Remember, teachers are people who put up their chalk and erasers and leave the school behind at the end of the day and often wander into intrigue and mystery. Check out some of the above cozy mysteries, see if you get the answers right ~ and maybe try one of your own. Could be a fun romp in the 'hallowed halls'
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Clue in the professors and educators and librarians envisioned in prose and verse ~ some creative sleuths in our Community and an inspiring challengeto celebrate a very special Birthday
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To celebrate back-to-school, come here to help stuff a backpack
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Mystery: August 24, 2011 Issue [#4562]
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