Step 2: The Sleuth begins to Investigate
Every mystery story can be boiled down to the following four steps.
1. A Puzzle Appears
2. A Curious Sleuth begins their quest
3. Sleuth discovers Clues and Setbacks
4. Sleuth reveals the Truth
In the second step, the reader meets the full cast of characters (sleuth, murderer, and suspects). Depending on your first step, the reader might already have been introduced to one or some of the cast. Now it’s time to get to know the suspects and their relationship with the deceased.
Considerations for your Sleuth
Depending on when the crime takes place, you might introduce your sleuth at the very beginning of the story. In any case, we want to showcase the sleuth and their talents. Give the reader a reason to cheer for your hero.
Background
What is your sleuth’s background? Are they a professional detective or an amateur sleuth? What tools and skills do they have to help them investigate? Are they working with (or in parallel with, or against) law enforcement?
Relationship
What is your sleuth’s relationship to the victim and to the suspect(s)? A family member will approach the investigation very differently than a stranger. Relatives know the family secrets and may have an easier time (or not) accessing the suspects than a police officer.
Showcase a strength
When introducing your sleuth (or any character), showcase their skills and abilities. Perhaps your detective has just solved a tricky case. Maybe your amateur sleuth is extremely observant, or has a specific expertise that will come in handy later.
Blind spot
Main characters (especially your detective) should have a character flaw or blind spot. Even better is a character flaw that interferes with their ability to investigate. Consider famous fictional detectives and their flaws: Hercule Poirot is narcissistic; Sherlock Holmes is obnoxious and addicted to morphine; Monk has phobias and obsessive compulsive tendencies; Bones has ASD; Dr. House has kindness issues.
Character flaw make for more well-rounded characters who struggle in their investigation.
Point of View
Since your sleuth is likely one of your main characters, it’s possible that you will tell (part of) the story through their point of view.
Consider how much of your sleuth’s thoughts and conclusions you want to share with the reader.
If the reader knows everything your sleuth knows, it’s a little harder to play along.
Sidekick
Giving your sleuth a sidekick is an opportunity for you as a writer to share some of your sleuth’s conclusions, without revealing everything they are thinking.
Sidekicks also introduce conflict, since they may have their own differing conclusions or approaches. Consider Castle and Beckett in the TV Show Castle, or Agents Mulder and Scully in The X-Files.
Considerations for your Murderer
In general, we want to introduce the murderer early in the story. If you are concealing their identify from the reader, consider hiding them by giving them some of the following attributes. The more you mislead your reader away from the true murderer, the bigger a surprise it will be when their identify is revealed.
Physically Attractive
Physically attractiveness often leads to an unconscious bias of trustworthiness. Readers might assume their beauty reflects innocence or virtue.
Appear less Intelligent
Murderers are often seen as cunning masterminds. Making your murderer naive (or pretending to be) will divert attention away from them, making them appear harmless.
Unassuming
Blending into the background allows characters to be overlooked, especially if you have similar or many characters.
Helpful to the Sleuth
Consider making the murderer aid (or pretend to aid) the sleuth. Intuitively, the real murderer would stay far away from the detective. But that would make the person more suspicious.
Likeable and Charming
A charismatic killer can win others over with trust and admiration. Their desire to create alliances (even if they are manipulating others) creates an appearance of connection and caring for others.
Funny
Readers tend to like funny characters. They lighten the mood, deflecting suspicion.
Considerations for your Suspects
In general, we want to introduce the suspects (including the murderer) early in the story.
Angels?
Should we make all of our suspects completely good and innocent people–people who’d never be involved in a murder?
No. Someone who’s always an angel makes a boring suspect.
Make them suspicious
We want to cast suspicion on all of our suspects. A great way to do so is by giving our suspects a secret. The secret doesn’t have to be directly related to the murder, but it’s something they want to hide from the sleuth, and that makes them even more suspicious.
Examples of Possible Motives
Suppose a man is killed. Perhaps he was planning to divorce his wife. Perhaps the victim’s employee was embezzling from him. Perhaps a woman had a secret child with the victim. Perhaps the victim was blackmailing a neighbor. All of these suspects had a reason to kill the victim, which makes them suspicious.
Examples of Possible Means
Many of the suspects may have had the required strength, tools, expertise, information, equipment, materials, weapon access etc. to carry out the murder.
The wife knew her husband’s routine. The employee had the physical strength to overpower the victim. The secret lover was familiar enough with chemistry to make a poison. The neighbor was a martial artist.
Examples of Possible Opportunities
Give each suspect access to the crime scene, the means to get there, and the knowledge the victim would be there.
For example, the wife left work early the day her husband was killed. The employee called in sick. The secret lover had access to the house alarm codes. The neighbor was familiar with the victim’s comings and goings.
Of course, the sleuth will need to check everyone’s whereabouts at the time of the crime, as this information can exclude a suspect. However, suspects may often lie about their whereabouts (maybe they were engaged in an unrelated, but embarrassing activity).
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