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“Life is a mystery ~
Living is finding the clues.”

Greetings, I am honored to be the guest editor for this issue of the Writing.Com Mystery Newsletter ^_^ Life itself is a mystery, one which affords us the clues and tools with which to solve them. Sometimes the journey requires wading through a plethora of red herrings, which lead only to more questions and makes many give up the quest. Feeling out of control, they stop searching, allow the antagonists to control their path, and abandon the journey, which is the fun of living.



The Mystery Writer, I believe, has a unique opportunity to create a story, novel, poem that for a brief moment in time inspires the reader to want to read every page in order to not miss a relevant clue. The clues are in the scenes, conversations and actions of believable characters. A microcosm of life and living, but one that the writer controls by taking pen or keyboard in hand and designing a world of solvable riddles and clues.

Mysteries appear today in many guises and are often blended with other traditional genres, i.e., historical, action/adventure, drama, romance, as well as the familiar standard “who-done-its” and police procedurals. Michael Connelly, for example, effectively blends mystery and thriller for exciting and page turning reads. Dean Koontz has created a genre of his own, blending mystery, horror, fantasy, science into a believable story with an ending unexpected with (Odd Thomas), for example I also keep turning just one more page written by Jeffery Deaver, Ian Rankin, or Peter Robinson, and another, and another, until I realize the alarm says wake up and I have yet to sleep.

What these writers (and others) offer me as a reader is first and foremost a good plot. This is a lesson I was also taught in writing class, but actually reading it makes it relevant and immediate. (CLUE here, “read like a writer”) A plot is, by definition, also called a “storyline, the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.” (thesaurus.com) It has a beginning, middle, and end/resolution.

A “good plot” is composed of scenes that drive the plot and, in a Mystery, provide clues to the discerning reader which are resolved as the plot unfolds, propelling the story forward to its unexpected, yet believable, resolution. Mysteries also immerse me in places peopled by the protagonist, antagonist(s), and ancillary characters with little back-story, only a short scene or chapter if immediately relevant to the plot itself. That doesn’t mean they have no life or depth ~ just the opposite, by their actions, demeanor, appearance and, yes, flaws, each is an integral active participant, engaging all his/her senses (along with mine)!

My favorite mysteries are not linear, but have a twist and turn or two, akin to real life, and the ending is not one I expected or anticipated in the midst of reading, perhaps having been lead astray by a red herring, but believable and logical by the time I reach the end.

A short story mystery or poetic mystery is written even tighter - where a scene would be akin to a chapter in a book, and the writing precise, nearly each word carrying relevance to the plot, every scene propelling the story forward (or maybe sideways once or twice), and clues resolved within the next several scenes with a minimal number of red herrings. Check out Jeffery Deaver, as well as some of the short story writers and poets in our Community ~ for some enticing mysteries