  Mystery
This week: The Rules of Writing a Mystery Edited by: Lonewolf  
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A mystery is something that is difficult to explain or understand. Mysteries are also stories where a problem, crime, or puzzle must be solved.
Mysteries often contain secrets or hidden qualities that must be solved. There may be information that is unknown and must be explained. Professional detectives and sleuths seek out clues to solve mysteries. To solve a mystery, people must use their skills of deductive reasoning.
Mysteries are a popular genre of fiction. Many people enjoy reading series of books by the same author. For example, Sherlock Holmes is a classic fictional sleuth.
Taking bits and pieces of clues left behind by thieves and killers to form an idea of who did what and how in the end catching the person who did the crime.
To have a good mystery you have to have the following as stated by S.S. Van Dine, although there have been some changes to the rules but not much.
Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories
By S.S. Van Dine
In 1936, S.S. Van Dine (author of the Philo Vance mysteries) published an article titled "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories." Obviously, a lot has changed since then -- but maybe not as much as we might think. The rules are:
1) The reader should have the same opportunity as the detective to solve the crime.
2) No tricks can be played to mislead the reader unless it is also done to the detective by the criminal.
3) The detective should not have a love interest.
4) Neither the detective nor one of the official investigators can turn out to be the criminal.
5) The villain must be found by logical deduction, not luck, accident, or un-motivated confessions.
6) The story must have a detective who also solves the crime (by detection).
7) It must be a murder mystery ("the deader the corpse the better").
8) The solution must come by "naturalistic means"; e.g., no ouija-boards.
9) There can be only one detective; not a team.
10) The villain has to be someone who plays a prominent part of the story.
11) The culprit can't be a servant (none of this, "The butler did it.").
12) There can only be one murderer. The villain could have a helper or "co-plotter," but only one is going to get the ax in the matter.
13) No secret societies ("mafias, et al"). The murderer, too, needs a sporting chance to outwit the detective.
14) The method of the murder must not be beyond plausibility. No super-natural means, nor the introduction of a fictional device or element ("super-radium, let us say" is not fair).
15) The truth of the solution must be apparent. The reader should be able to pick the book upon completion and see that the answer was in fact starring at him all the time.
16) The detective "novel" must be just that, no side issues of "literary dallying" or "atmospheric preoccupations." These devices interfere with the purpose of detective fiction, "which is to state a problem, analyze it" and solve it.
17) The culprit must be an amateur, not a professional criminal.
18) The solution must never be an accident or suicide.
19) Motives for the crime must be personal, not political or professional.
20) All of the following tricks and devices are verboten. They've been done to death or are otherwise unfair.
a) Comparing a cigarette butt with the suspect's cigarette.
b) Using a séance to frighten the culprit into revealing himself.
c) Using phony fingerprints.
d) Using a dummy figure to establish a false alibi.
e) Learning that the culprit was familiar because the dog didn't bark.
f) Having "the twin" do it.
g) Using knock-out drops.
h) If the murder is in a locked room, it has to be done before the police have actually broken in.
i) Using a word-association test for guilt.
j) Having the solution in a coded message that takes the detective until the end of book to figure out.
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Mystery: May 19, 2010 Issue [#3744]
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