  Mystery
This week: Edited by: MaryLou  
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| Mystery stories are so popular because they fulfill one of humans' deepest instincts - the need to explore, to question, to find out. Humans are incessantly searching for answers to life's greatest mysteries. Since those mysteries are so difficult to unravel, we can find comfort in reading and writing mystery novels and short stories. Thus, our need to discover is satisfied...until the hunger strikes again. |
| ASIN: B083RZ37SZ |
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For the past week my mind, and the minds of my fellow Gulf Coast residents, have been focused on weather. Namely, on Hurricane Rita which was threatening our shores.
Hundreds of thousands fled the area, and the ones who remained (like myself) scrambled to obtain the necessary supplies. With Rita due to make landfall in the wee hours of Saturday morning, I went in search of bottled water early in the week, knowing it'd become virtually impossible to find any as the week wore on. At the fourth grocery store I stopped at, I was fortunate enough to be close to the bottled drinks section when two pallets of bottled water were set out among the bare shelves.
People descended upon the water like locusts and within minutes, the pallets were emptied. (I myself nabbed seven cases!)
As I stood in the long checkout line, my thoughts began to dwell upon the many emotions such forces of nature bring out in the human psyche: Fear. Uncertainty. Panic. Loss of control. Excitement. Anxiety. Anticipation. Desperation. Power. Helplessness. Greed, even.
It occurred to me that all these varying emotions in the face of a force such as Hurricane Rita provided an excellent backdrop for a murder mystery. Under normal circumstances, it would be incomprehensible for a violent crime to be committed for the sake of a case of water. But as I watched the reactions of my fellow Baytonians, I could imagine how such a crime might come about in such desperate circumstances when emotions are running amok and chaos ensues.
Weather has the potential to be much more than part of your setting. At the least, it will evoke a specific atmosphere. Artfully described, it can become a character in its own right.
Think about what the various atmospheric conditions suggest to you: sunshine, heavy winds, a gentle rain, lightning storm, light snowfall, blizzard, etc. Now ponder what crimes might be suitable for each condition. In many instances, a certain type of crime can be committed in only a specific type of weather, such as my bottled water example.
Following are some tips regarding settings:
Seven Ways to Make Settings More Real -- Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America.
1) Don't treat background as seconday; use it to advantage. Set your book in a place that lends itself to atmosphere and exploit the locale to the fullest.
2) Use ordinary description, but go beyond it as well -- give us feelings, sounds, tastes, smells, metaphors, impressions, opinions. As in all writing, show don't tell. Involve all five senses. Above all, give us strong images. Don't tell us it's a pretty day; show us the sun glinting through a violet canopy of jacarandas.
3) If it's appropriate, let the character of a place shine through and become a character in your book.
4) Don't cut corners. Visit the location of each scene, get the feel of it, take copious notes, then report. If you can't do that, research it well with books, pictures, and interviews -- especially interviews. Pay attention to people's personal takes on a place.
5) Don't overlook the obvious. If you're setting a cozy in Miami-probably a poor idea, but let's just say you've found an idyllic pocket in the suburbs and you want to plant a body there-at least mention drug smuggling; orient your reader to the larger community.
6) Note from the examples herein just how far a couple of paragraphs can go. Slip in nuggets of information -- economics, history, social history, geography -- but don't get carried away. A little does a lot.
7) Put weather in.
See ya next month,
MaryLou |
Here's a few items that incorporate weather as a significant part of the story. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to rate and review.
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#171805 by Not Available. |
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#803354 by Not Available. |
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Mini Mystery
Practice your deductive abilities; 1000 GPs for your correct answer.
"A Stamp of Suspicion" from Great Book of Whodunit Puzzles
Thomas P. Stanwick and Inspector Matthew Walker were chatting in the lounge of the Royston Chess Club after an arduous game.
"Any interesting cases on hand, Matt?" asked Stanwick, lighting his pipe.
Walker nodded. "A robbery case involving a stamp collector. What's driving me nuts is that I think the victim may be lying, but I can't prove it."
"Really?" Stanwick arched his eyebrows. "Please tell me about it."
"It happened, supposedly, three nights ago, in one of the mansions up on the Hill," Walker said. "The owner, Avery Manlich, says that he was awakened about 2 A.M. by a noise downstairs in his library. Grasping a baseball bat, he crept down the stairs and paused there to switch on the light to the foyer. He also called out, "Who's there?" in the direction of the library."
"To his astonishment, two men darted out of the library and ran out the front door into the night. By the time the shocked Manlich rushed to the open door, the men were gone. Only then did he go back to the library and find his safe cracked and at least ten trays of valuable stamps missing."
"Just a moment," interrupted Stanwick. "While he was at the door, did he hear any car doors slamming or an engine starting?"
"No, he didn't. The thieves escaped on foot."
"Did Manlich describe the thieves?"
"Nothing very helpful. He said the men were dressed only in black, skintight leotards, black gloves, and black ski masks. As they ran out, both had their arms full of several trays of stamps."
"And what did your investigation reveal?"
"The deadbolt lock on the front door had been sawed off, the other lock on that door had been picked, and the safe (a rather sophisticated one) had been expertly cracked. No fingerprints or other physical evidence was left, and according to Manlich, nothing but the stamps was taken. The stamps were heavily insured, of course. Neither on the grounds nor in the surrounding area have we found any discarded ski masks or other traces of the thieves."
"And on what basis do you doubt Manlich's story?"
Walker made a wry face. "Not much more than a gut feeling, I guess," he said. "I've dealt with collectors before though, Tom. Though usually normal in all other respects, they tend to be fanatical when it comes to their collections. This guy, Manlich, it seems to me, has been just a little too cool about this whole thing. Of course, it's nothing I could take to court."
"No, I suppose not," said Stanwick with a smile. "I think a more solid basis can be found, however, for your suspicions about Manlich. His story does contain a major flaw!"
What flaw did Stanwick detect in Manlich's story?
Answers to the last mini-mystery:
AL : I think I know Whodunnit. I think it was Springer, because if he kept his to do list to himself and nobody had been in his office, how could Springer then know that Jasper was doing evaluations unless he had been in the office? He probably killed him because he was going to give him a bad one. Or something.
Or something! 
Erik Stark : Reading this for the proper clues has me wondering so I am sure to tune in next time for the answer. I want to say Joseph Springer did it because he is the only one who knew what the deceased was doing. Mrs. Pringle said he kept his to-do list to himself. About the time I decided this is the right answer I noticed Mrs. Pringle said he had a full briefcase and wondered how she knew it was full. So maybe she did it since the shot was aparently fired from directly in front of him...or was it? I'm going with Springer since there is no mention of conflict between the clerks and Mrs. Pringle's statements. That's my final answer! lol. I'll be waiting patiently for the answer! Thanks for the fun, great newsletter! -Erik
And your final answer is correct!
ncblondie : Joseph Springer did it. Ms. Pringle said that Jasper didn't share his schedule or to-do list with anyone. The only way that Springer could know that Jasper was working on evaluations was if he had been in the office.
Absolutely.
Margaret : Regarding your 'Mini Mystery' - Springer did it. If Jasper kept his to-do list to himself and took his papers home each night... how else could Springer have known the Jasper was working on the evaluations? He must have been in the office to have seen that. Great newsletter! - Margaret
Thanks, Margaret!
M Hague Bailey : This one stumped me at first, but finally I have figured it out. Joseph Springer is the murderer, because he knew that Wilson Jasper was doing evaluations when Mr. Jasper kept his to-do list to himself. But, Mr. Springer knew because he saw the evaluation forms on his desk.
Yup.
karabu: Hi. This one was a little tougher I think. I had to go back and review the clues, but I think it was Springer. According to the secretary he took all his papers home and in again in the morning. Yet Springer knew he was working on evaluations. So he had to have been in the room sometime that morning. Right...? 
Right!
nomlet  : Ah, mini-mysteries! I'm going to have to go for Springer on this one. If Jasper kept his to-do list to himself, then the only way Springer would know the boss was working on evaluations was if he was in Jasper's office—the scene of the heinous murder!—that morning.
Thanks for all the mystery links. I have wanted to try writing one for a while now, but just have not been able to come up with anything in the way of inspiration. Maybe reading some other works will help me.
Reading other people's mysteries definitely will help in learning the genre. 
PJ Karina : Springer did it. If he had not seen Jasper, the aide would not have known of the performance evaluations.
So, Joseph Springer with a handgun (with a silencer) in Wilson Jasper's office.
Ah, another Clue fanatic! 
Nimue  : Who murdered Wilson Jasper? Why Joseph Springer of course. On the desk were performance evaluations Jasper was working on. Miss Pringle stated that he kept his schedule and to-do list to himself. So how did Springer know what he would be disturbing should he have entered the office? Could be Fun, but this one is too easy.
Well, we start out with the not-so-difficult ones and they'll get harder as we get further along in the book, methinks.
Feedback:
billwilcox: A Mystery Campfire? Is that like you can't figure out who started the campfire? It's a mystery!
There's an idea, Bill! Why don't you try that?
DB Cooper : I wish mystery magazines {Ellery Queen, Hitchcock} would publish more one minute mysterys.
They're quite fun, no?
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| ASIN: B00KN0JEYA |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Mystery: September 28, 2005 Issue [#638]
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