A murder mystery needs a victim, a perpetrator, and a sleuth, but your other suspects are the glue that holds your novel together. They provide color, background, and information, and help you craft your puzzle. Without your suspects, your detective and your readers have a more direct path from crime to solution.
Mystery writer Zara Altair offers advice for creating suspects who are distinct, memorable, and quite possibly, the killer. The most well-crafted suspects will keep your readers guessing, but also will give them a reason to care about your victim and your story. “When you build curiosity and connection to each suspect, you deepen the reader’s involvement in the story,” Altair says. “If they like a suspect, their emotional response may be—No, no, don’t make it be her. And if the reader dislikes a suspect, they will root for the detective to understand the suspect’s relationship to the victim.”
