How to Write a Mystery

by Mystery Writers of America

  Lindsey Davis is best known for her Roman detective, Marcus Didius Falco, and her new series about his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. She has also written standalones, novellas, and short stories.

  Her awards include the Premio Colosseo (from the city of Rome) and the Crimewriters’ Cartier Diamond Dagger.

  She has been chair of the UK Crimewriters Association and the UK Society of Authors. www.lindseydavis.co.uk

  Jeffery Deaver is an internationally number one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America.

  The author of forty-three novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book, he’s received or been short-listed for dozens of awards. His The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window and a stand-alone, Edge, were also nominated for that prize. He’s been nominated for eight Edgar Awards.

  Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven suspense novels that reviewers call “deliciously creepy.” Her Careful What You Wish For (William Morrow) received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. In a review in Time magazine, Jamie Lee Curtis called it “thrilling and suspenseful.” Her Never Tell a Lie was made into a Lifetime movie. A five-time finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, her Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel was an Edgar Award finalist. Hallie is a popular presenter at events and writing conferences. She blogs daily on the Anthony Award–winning blog Jungle Red Writers (www.jungleredwriters.com).

  Lyndsay Faye is the internationally bestselling author of the Edgar Award–nominated Timothy Wilde trilogy and Jane Steele, in addition to three other critically acclaimed novels. An avid Sherlock Holmes enthusiast, her short stories are published in numerous magazines and anthologies and collected in The Whole Art of Detection. She has been translated into more than a dozen languages and is delighted, humbled, and thankful to be part of this essay collection. Lyndsay is a proud member of numerous Sherlockian organizations and has served several terms on both the local and national MWA boards. She lives in Queens, New York.

  Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, and a writer of crime novels and books on theater and film. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of the Drifter, Tinseltown Riff, Murder Run, Moon Games, and The Secluded Village Murders. Among his works of nonfiction is The Actors Studio: A History Miranda and the D-Day Caper is his latest foray into the world of crime and the amateur sleuth. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

  Meg Gardiner is the award-winning author of fifteen thrillers. Her novels have been bestsellers in the United States and internationally and have been translated into more than twenty languages. China Lake won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. UNSUB won the 2018 Barry Award for Best Thriller. She taught in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has presented master classes for Curtis Brown Creative and HarperCollins UK, and teaches seminars for the nonprofit organization Texas Writes. She served as the 2019 and 2020 president of Mystery Writers of America. Gardiner lives in Austin.

  Trained as a medical doctor, Tess Gerritsen built a second career as a thriller writer. Her twenty-nine novels include the Rizzoli and Isles crime series, on which the TV show Rizzoli & Isles is based. Among her titles are Harvest, Gravity, The Surgeon, Playing with Fire, and The Shape of Night. Her books are translated into forty languages and more than thirty million copies have been sold. She lives in Maine.

  Chris Grabenstein is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Mr. Lemoncello books as well as four dozen other books for young readers, including several fast-paced and funny page-turners coauthored with James Patterson, such as the I Funny, Jacky Ha-Ha, and Max Einstein series.

  Rachel Howzell Hall, author of the critically acclaimed novel And Now She’s Gone and the Anthony Award–, Lefty Award– and Thriller Award–nominated They All Fall Down (Forge), writes the acclaimed Lou Norton series, including Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes, and City of Saviors. She is also the coauthor of The Good Sister with James Patterson, which was included in the New York Times bestseller The Family Lawyer. She is currently on the board of directors for the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America and is a Pitch Wars mentor for 2020. She lives in Los Angeles. You can find her at www.rachelhowzell.com and Twitter @RachelHowzell.

  Bradley Harper began writing at sixty-three after thirty-seven years in the U.S. Army, first as an infantry officer, then as a physician/pathologist. With more than two hundred autopsies and twenty forensic death investigations to his credit, he uses his clinical experience to inform his writing.

  Harper’s debut novel, A Knife in the Fog, pitted Arthur Conan Doyle against Jack the Ripper and was a Finalist for the 2019 Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American. The sequel, Queen’s Gambit, won Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion as Best Suspense and Book of the Year. His website is www.BHarperAuthor.com.

  Charlaine Harris is a true daughter of the South. Born in Mississippi, she has lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. Her career as a novelist began in 1981 with her first book, a conventional mystery. Since then, she’s written urban fantasy, science fiction, and horror. In addition to more than thirty full-length books, she has written numerous short stories and three graphic novels in collaboration with Christopher Golden. She has featured on bestseller lists many times, and her works have been adapted for three (soon to be five) television shows. Charlaine now lives at the top of a cliff on the Brazos River with her husband and two rescue dogs. She has three children and two grandchildren.

  Carolyn Hart, an MWA Grand Master, is the author of sixty-two mystery and suspense novels, including the Death on Demand, Henrie O, and Bailey Ruth series. Her stand-alone novels include the WWII novels Escape from Paris, Brave Hearts, and Letter from Home. She is a past president of Sisters in Crime and a member of MWA since 1964.

  Liliana Hart is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty titles. After starting her first novel her freshman year of college, she became addicted to writing and knew she’d found what she was meant to do with her life. She has no idea why she majored in music.

  Since publishing in 2011, Liliana has appeared at number one on lists all over the world, and all three of her series have appeared on the New York Times list. Liliana can usually be found at her computer or hanging out with her real-life hero, Scott.

  Rob Hart is the author of The Warehouse, which sold in more than twenty languages and was optioned for film. He also wrote the Ash McKenna crime series, the short story collection Take-Out, and he cowrote Scott Free with James Patterson. His short stories have been published in places like Thuglit, Needle, Mystery Tribune, and Joyland. He’s received a Derringer Award nomination for best flash fiction story, and his short story “Take-Out” appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2018. He also received honorable mention in both Best American Mystery Stories 2015 and 2017. He lives in Staten Island, New York.

  Greg Herren is the award-winning author of thirty-three novels, two novellas, and three short story collections. He has published over fifty short stories, in markets as varied as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Men, and numerous anthologies. He has edited twenty anthologies, including Blood on the Bayou and Florida Happens. He has won two Lambda Literary Awards (out of fourteen nominations), an Anthony Award, and two Moonbeam medals for Young Adult Fiction. He has been short-listed for countless other awards, including the Shirley Jackson Award and the Macavity.

  Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award–winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have b
een published in Japanese, Korean, and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. The seventh and final Mas Arai mystery is Hiroshima Boy, which was nominated for an Edgar Award for best paperback original. Her first historical mystery standalone is Clark and Division, which follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. For more information, go to her website, www.naomihirahara.com.

  Steve Hockensmith is the author of two finalists for the Edgar Award (the mystery-Western hybrid Holmes on the Range and the middle-grade adventure Nick and Tesla’s Secret Agent Gadget Battle) as well as a New York Times bestseller, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. In addition to writing more than a dozen other novels, he contributes short stories regularly to MWA anthologies and both Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. You can download free samples of his fiction at stevehockensmith.com/steves-stories.

  Maddee James is the owner of xuni.com, a small, dynamic website development company that has created, designed, and maintained author websites for more than twenty years. Though xuni.com clients span across all genres, we specialize in customized Wordpress sites for mystery and thriller writers. We also support author branding through print and online ads, social media design, custom newsletters and other promotional materials. While we are in the business of creating functional beauty, we are best known for our individualized attention to clients and details, along with amazing responsiveness. Check out our work, client list, and much more at xuni.com.

  Rae Franklin James was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first book in her award-winning, five-star Hollis Morgan Mysteries, The Fallen Angels Book Club, was released by Camel Press. The last book in the series, The Identity Thief, was released in 2018. Book one in her new series, The Appraiser, was released in 2019. James sits on the board of Bouchercon Mystery Convention. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Northern California Publishers and Authors. She resides in Northern California. Her website link is www.rfranklinjames.com.

  Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery novels, which are the basis for Longmire, the hit Netflix original drama. The books have won multiple awards: Le Prix du Polar Nouvel Observateur/BibliObs, the Wyoming Historical Association’s Book of the Year, Le Prix 813, the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award, the Mountains & Plains Book of the Year, the SNCF Prix de Polar, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, the Watson Award, Library Journal’s Best Mystery of the Year, the Rocky, and the Will Rogers Award for Fiction. Johnson lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population twenty-five.

  Stephanie Kane is a lawyer and award-winning author of six crime novels and a blog about how storytelling shaped a true cold case. She has owned and run a karate studio, lectured on money laundering and white-collar crime in Eastern Europe, and given writing workshops across the country. Her thrillers starring dyslexic defense lawyer Jackie Flowers won a Colorado Book Award and two Colorado Authors League Awards. Her latest heroine, paintings conservator Lily Sparks, debuted in A Perfect Eye and continues with Automat. She lives in Denver with her husband and two black cats. Visit her at www.writerkane.com.

  Gay Toltl Kinman has nine award nominations for her writing, several short stories in American and English magazines and anthologies, twelve children’s books and stories, a YA gothic novel, eight adult mysteries, and collections of short stories. Several of her short plays were produced—now in a collection of twenty plays, The Play’s the Thing; many articles in professional journals and newspapers; and has coedited two nonfiction books. Kinman has library and law degrees.

  William Kent Krueger is the author of the New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor mystery series, set in the great Northwoods of Minnesota. His work has received the Edgar Award, Macavity Award, multiple Anthony, Barry, and Dilys Awards, the Friends of the American Writers Prize, and has been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in Saint Paul and does all his creative writing in local, author-friendly coffee shops. His most recent novel, This Tender Land, has spent several months on the New York Times bestseller list.

  Robert Lopresti is a retired librarian. He has been a published author for more than forty years. His stories have appeared in the major mystery magazines and been reprinted in Best American Mystery Stories and Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. He has won the Derringer Award (three times) as well as the Black Orchid Novella Award, and been nominated for the Anthony. His most recent novel, Greenfellas, is a comic caper about the Mafia trying to save the environment.

  Gayle Lynds is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of ten spy novels, including The Book of Spies, The Assassins, and Masquerade Library Journal calls her “the reigning queen of espionage fiction.” Her books have been published in thirty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Among her many awards is the Military Writers Society of America Award for Best Novel. With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series. The first book, The Hades Factor, was a CBS miniseries. With David Morrell, she cofounded International Thriller Writers and ThrillerFest. You can visit her at www.GayleLynds.com.

  Tim Maleeny is the bestselling author of the award-winning Cape Weathers mysteries and the comedic thriller Jump, which Publishers Weekly described as “a perfectly blended cocktail of escapism.” Tim’s short fiction appears in several major anthologies and has won the prestigious Macavity Award for best story of the year. The Irish Times says, “If comic crime fiction is your thing, Maleeny delivers in spades.” He lives and writes at an undisclosed location in New York City.

  Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland in 1965 and lived there until immigrating to the United States in 2010. She is the national bestselling and multi award–wining author of the Dandy Gilver series of preposterous 1930s detective stories, set in the old country, the Last Ditch Motel series of crime comedies, set in the new country, and a strand of somewhat darker psychological suspense novels. A former academic, she now writes full-time and lives in Northern California.

  Catriona is a member of MWA, CWA, SoA, and a former national president of Sisters in Crime.

  Kris Neri’s latest novel, Hopscotch Life, featuring quirky protagonist Plum Tardy, is a New Mexico–Arizona Book Award winner. She also writes the Tracy Eaton mysteries, with the daughter of eccentric Hollywood stars, and the Samantha Brennan and Annabelle Haggerty magical series, featuring a questionable psychic who teams up with a goddess/FBI agent. Kris’s novels have been finalists for such prestigious awards as the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Lefty, and others. She teaches writing for the Writers’ Program of the UCLA Extension School and other organizations. Readers are welcome to visit her website: krisneri.com.

  Neil Nyren retired at the end of 2017 as executive vice president, associate publisher, and editor in chief of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, and is the winner of the 2017 Ellery Queen Award from Mystery Writers of America. Among the writers of crime and suspense with whom he has worked are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, John Sandford, C. J. Box, Robert Crais, Carl Hiaasen, Daniel Silva, Jack Higgins, Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, Jonathan Kellerman, Ed McBain, and Ace Atkins. He now writes about crime fiction and publishing for CrimeReads, The Big Thrill, The Third Degree, BookTrib, and Publishers Weekly, among other publications.

  Dag Öhrlund is a bestselling Swedish author and award-winning photographer who has written twenty-four successful crime novels and seventeen other books. He has also participated in another thirty-five other books—anthologies, photo books, etc. His spine-tingling books have been sold to several countries.

  He began his career as a journalist and photographer forty-eight years ago. He has traveled and worked in thirty countries, his articles and photographs have been published in more than 150 magazines around the world.

  In his adventurous life, Dag has had multiple brushes with death. He has been shot at, arrested, survived a terroris
t attack, been paralyzed and had to use a wheelchair, events that have had a profound impact on his writing.

  Dag lives in Sollentuna, Sweden, and Cape Coral, Florida.

  Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. The child of anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India, she spent her childhood traveling around the world on their research trips, and now lives outside San Francisco with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden. Gigi writes lighthearted traditional mysteries including the Accidental Alchemist mysteries and Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, and she loves locked-room mystery stories. Her debut novel won the Malice Domestic Grant, and she’s been awarded the Anthony, Agatha, Lefty, and Derringer. www.gigipandian.com

  T. Jefferson Parker is the author of twenty-six novels and numerous short stories and essays. He’s been a member of MWA since 1990 and has won three Edgar Awards. He was born in Los Angeles and now lives near San Diego. When not at work he enjoys fishing, hiking, gardening, hunting sea glass, and a good bottle of Bordeaux.

  Louise Penny is the author of the number one New York Times bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache crime novels. She lives in a small village in Quebec.

  Gary Phillips has published various novels, comics, more than sixty-five short stories, and edited or coedited several anthologies including the Anthony Award–winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir Violent Spring, his first mystery published in the mid-nineties, was recently named one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a story editor on Snowfall, an FX show about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up.

  Stephen Ross’s short stories and novelettes have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, several MWA anthologies, and many other magazines and anthologies. He has been nominated for an Edgar Award, a Derringer Award, and a Thriller Award. He was a 2010 Ellery Queen Readers’ Award finalist and the 2018 winner of the Rose Trophy for Best Short Story. Stephen has lived in London and Germany, and he currently makes his home on the scenic Hibiscus Coast of New Zealand. His favorite thing in the world is going for coffee and bagels in Manhattan. www.StephenRoss.net