Katy McDermott

Forget “how is the crime committed?”, “who are the suspects?”, “what are the clues?”, and “which clues are red herrings?” The absolute hardest question for me to answer, when writing a murder mystery, is “why?”

What could possibly drive one person to take the life of another person?

I read a book (a mystery, as it happens) years ago where the amateur sleuth, in conversation with an associate, listed all the various motives for murder quite logically. It was an informative, well thought-out passage – and unfortunately, if offers me no help at all as I’m trying to come up with a satisfying murder motive for my next book.

The other night, I though I’d arrived at a terrific motive. I’d even added in some elements of “means” that I thought were very clever. I tied the motive to my murderer’s past actions and future goals, and I don’t mind admitting that I was pretty chuffed about it.

I ran downstairs from my office, almost breathless from excitement, and told my husband. He thought about it for a good two seconds before informing me (as nicely as possible) that my motive sounded like something out of an old episode of “Columbo.”

He was right. <shakes fist>

So now it’s back to the drawing board. I have another motive – better, I think. Certainly less obvious and more complex. We’ll see where it takes me. I’m probably going to have to write the entire murder scene for myself (it certainly won’t be in the book!) to see if it “listens.”

And this is still the preliminary work. It’s hard out here for a mystery writer…