Mystery and Detective Fiction

Craft Moves

• Central question
• Clue trail
• Red herrings
• Pressure of time
• Reveal that changes earlier scenes

Practice

Write a scene with three details: one true clue, one misleading clue, and one ordinary detail that later matters.

Public-Domain Examples

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie