CLUES

I recently ran across review of my book, The Company You Keep, on a blog. The reviewer commented that they thought the clues were obvious and was able to figure out who the killer was. My answer to this would be: Good for you! I love when people tell me they were able to figure out who dunnit. That’s the whole purpose of the clues. If you can figure it out it means you were on your toes, you paid attention. I’m not trying to make it impossible to solve, though I do admit to being pleased when people tell me the killer surprised them. That’s when I know my red herrings worked. But mysteries are puzzles and I want people to figure out the puzzle. I’ve always thought of clues as puzzle pieces that need to be put together to get the whole picture. If there’s one thing I hate is reading a mystery novel where the clues lead to nowhere and the author pulls the killer out of thin air. I feel cheated when that happens. I certainly don’t want to cheat my readers. When the killer is finally revealed in the end, I want readers to realize they’d been given the answer all along. I want them to be a detective too. Isn’t that why we read mysteries?

Angela