Theo Marchetti

Learning how to end a mystery series without disappointing readers comes down to three jobs: answer the question you spent eight books asking, resolve … Read more

A crime novel series works when three decisions are made before you draft book one: what the series promises, what carries forward from one … Read more

To write believable autopsy and forensics scenes, you need four things: the right sequence of professional steps, honest limits on what an expert can … Read more

A police procedural is a story in which trained police officers or detectives solve a crime by working the case step by step, from … Read more

Getting the structure right is what matters most when you work out how to write a small town murder mystery, because the suspect pool … Read more

If you are wondering how to choose a setting for a crime novel, the answer is short: pick a specific place and time that … Read more

To outline a mystery so clues land fairly, work backward from the solution: settle who did it and why, list every fact that proves … Read more

Fair play mystery rules are a promise: every clue the detective uses to name the culprit appears in the text first, in the same … Read more