No matter what the idea is, you’ll first have to work out the plot behind the plot, which, happily, is the subject of the next chapter.

called the villain, the murderer, commits a murder and is pursued by another character, the hero, who brings the murderer to justice. The word detective in this book means the person who solves the murder. I call this character the “hero/detective.” He or she is the protagonist of the story whether he or she is a college student, a prisoner, a dent

“The first step for me [is] a plot outline, a step-by-step description of how my story will unfold. I try to make this outline as detailed as possible, for I have learned that, for me at least, the more I put into these preparatory phases, the fewer problems I will have in actually writing the book.”

“The mystery novelist begins her or his quest by coming up with a single notion that can be squeezed, patted, poked, and fondled by the mind (a process I call noodling) to see if it might possibly yield up the spectral entity we call a plot.” This, I’ve found, is exactly the process.

damn good fiction says something about what it means to be a human being and how we ought to live our lives and treat other human beings. Mystery

The amateur detective needs to be just as clever and resourceful as a pro. The difference is, the amateur doesn’t know anything about detective work except for what he or she has seen on TV and in the movies; therefore, the amateur has more of a challenge when it comes to finding the murderer.

The mystery hero is self-sacrificing; that is the key to the hero/detective’s character.

Ancient heroes and modern mystery heroes share many qualities: courage, loyalty, a determination to defeat evil, the drive to sacrifice for an ideal, and so on.

The modern mystery is a version of the oldest story ever told: the mythic journey of the warrior hero.