Writing Detective Mysteries

A #1 Amazon Best Seller Mystery Writing in a Nutshell Edgar Allan Poe Award Winner John McAleer & Andrew McAleer Edgar Allan Poe Award winner, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and best-selling author John McAleer, Ph.D. (Harvard), taught crime fiction at Boston College for nearly four decades, nurturing authors like George V. Higgins (The Friends of Eddie Coyle), Chuck Hogan (The Town), Margaret McLean (Whitey on Trial), Edward Hannibal (Blood Feud), James Devlin (Elmore Leonard), James F. Murphy, Jr. (Quonset) and Ted Murphy (the Belltown mysteries). Now, in Mystery Writing in a Nutshell, he and ...

From “one of today’s most interesting thriller writers” (Lee Child) comes an immersive, propulsive novel in which a detective and a crime writer conduct parallel investigations, six years apart, into a series of puzzling murders. “[Nesbo] can heighten suspense with a single word and...

Charlie McGinley wanted literary fame—He got a front-row seat to murder. Charlie writes hardboiled detective novels from his New Mexico ranch. His books sell, but never earn the respect he craves. He wants to be taken seriously. Maybe even win an award. So, when world-famous author Jon Masterson invites him to join his prestigious writer’s group, Charlie jumps at the chance. Sure, Masterson’s rich, smug and conceited, but Charlie’s willing to play nice if it means finally being taken seriously as a writer. Then cracks in the façade start to appear. Is Masterson mentoring new talent...

The Art of Suspense: Mastering Mystery and Thriller Writing is a comprehensive craft guide designed for writers who want to elevate their ability to create tension, deepen emotional stakes, and keep readers turning pages late into the night. Blending psychological insight with practical technique and demystifies how suspense truly works—why it grips us, how it manipulates our expectations, and what separates a predictable story from an unforgettable one. We will explore the core mechanics of suspense, including the psychology of fear and anticipation, the strategic use of foreshadowing, ...

Cyrus Shelton has spent the last twenty-three years locked up in the Huntsville State Penitentiary with only one thing on his mind - revenge on the arresting detective, Frank Windom, and his lousy defense attorney, Jonell Simone. Now paroled and having learned Windom had the nerve to die, he sets his sights on Windom's former partner, Jack West.

Master the Art of Mystery Writing Whether you're crafting a cozy whodunit, a hard-boiled noir, or a psychological thriller, this comprehensive guide will teach you how to write mysteries that keep readers guessing until the final page. USA Today bestselling author Steve Alcorn draws on more than 25 years of teaching experience to break down the essential elements of compelling mystery fiction: intricate plotting, memorable characters, escalating suspense, and satisfying reveals. Through detailed examples from Agatha Christie, Michael Connelly, Gillian Flynn, and dozens more, you'll learn ...

A bestselling diva. A fatal book signing. And a witch who'd rather be reading. Bibliomancy witch Mercy Brew owns Bewitching Books in the quirky seaside town of Hemlock Hills, where Peculiars secretly live among humans. Between organizing her grand reopening and getting her stubborn ghostly aunt to cross over, Mercy just wants to focus on community, friendships, and her heart-fluttering attraction to Vaughn, the broody werewolf who looks unfairly good in a toolbelt. When Mercy agrees to host a book signing for a cantankerous author with more enemies than fans, she expects drama, not a crime ...

Kids can be so cruel. They'll call you names. Hurt your feelings. Push you to your death. In the garden of an abandoned house, Luke Connolly lies broken, dead. The night before, he and his friends partied inside. Nobody fought, everybody else went home safely. And yet, Luke was raped and pushed...

Murder has come once more to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of "almost handsome" Detective Simon Grave and his "nearly invisible" partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, who investigate a locked-room mystery with a significant twist: the prime suspects are in the locked room, not the victim, a logic-defying situation that challenges the team at every turn.

A brutal murder and the kidnapping of a two-year old boy disrupt the return of Milton PD Detective Steve Marks from his Florida vacation. A homeless man has been savagely murdered behind the Trips Aces Casino and Henry Burnett, the son of the owner of the Burnett Furniture empire, has been kidnapped. Clues in both cases are scarce. As more homeless men become victims of the murderer dubbed The Shadow, and there is nothing pointing to little Henry's return, the pressure on Marks and his young partner, Anders Hedberg, mounts. Milton's mayor wants fast action in both cases while the Burnett ...

A demon hound haunts Crab Cove, taking its victims as they come. When a mutilated corpse is found in the marshes, Detective Simon Grave rises to the challenge. Everything points to the hound, but it is quickly apparent that the body has been stabbed repeatedly, in a way that suggests serial killer Chester Clink also may be involved. Or maybe not.

A wickedly plotted new thriller, in which a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, from Alex Pavesi, the author of The Eighth Detective Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At...

THE LATEST TOM REYNOLDS MYSTERY FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT LIE 'Fiendishly clever' - Irish Sunday Independent Nobody was supposed to get out alive. On a Dublin city street, packed with afternoon shoppers, a young woman appears, naked, traumatised and bearing burn...

'A deeply satisfying read' Sunday Times Christmas Day, and DCI Tom Reynolds receives an alarming call. A mass grave has been discovered on Oileán na Caillte, the island which housed the controversial psychiatric institution St. Christina's. The hospital has been closed for decades and onsite...

Cursed by a Native American brave, the Bennet House is one of the most haunted locations in Niagara Falls. This is where Emlyn Goode and all but one member of her writers’ group hunt for ghosts on Halloween. What they find in the house, isn’t a ghost, though. It’s the body of Edward Bennet, the missing group member. A few days earlier, Edward had shown Emlyn a document he’d found in the Bennet House, and told her it would anger people if made public. When Edward is found, the document is missing. Emlyn is certain that document will identify Edward’s killer, but her search for it ...

On an isolated Scottish island, a secretive community is forced to face the darkness of its past. None but the Dead is the thrilling eleventh book in Lin Anderson's forensic crime series featuring Rhona MacLeod. 'One of the most satisfying characters in modern crime fiction' – Daily Mail...

Crafting a killer cozy can be perilous. Fans of the genre expect authors to forego explicit gore and violence while at the same time creating a mind-boggling murder mystery with pulse-pounding tension and a twisty plot. But how is a writer supposed to satisfy such disparate demands? How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery tackles this exact problem by providing an actionable roadmap for starting (and completing!) a manuscript that will leave readers dying for more. Packed with charts and questionnaires designed to streamline the writing process, this comprehensive step-by-step guide will help ...

“Suspenseful and mysterious with humor woven throughout!” –Christine Laforet, author of the Being Bree series A trio of eighth graders are invited to a mysterious school club only to have the faculty sponsor angrily insist it will never be an active club again. Intrigued, Abby, Brett, and Maxine begin investigating and quickly find themselves pulled into an adventure and a mystery unlike anything they could have imagined. Hidden clubhouses, a sentient computer program, and a man who vanishes from sight are just the beginning. In over their heads, struggling to work together and master...

In the third book in the Search and Rescue Dog Series, a young Native American woman, unexpectedly escapes from the Wyoming Women's Minimum Security Prison just before being released, puzzling everyone. Lincoln County Deputy Nate Garner and his search and rescue dog Boo are quickly dispatched to track the running fugitive across the plains of Wyoming and into the Utah wilderness. Accompanying them is teenage Caleb who watches as Kwayah, called “The North Wind,” stays one step ahead of her pursuers.

Amanda Lester wouldn't be caught dead going into the family business. Her ancestor, Sherlock Holmes's colleague Inspector G. Lestrade, is a twit. Nevertheless her parents refuse to see his flaws, and she's going to a secret English school for the descendants of famous detectives whether she likes it or not. When Amanda arrives at the dreaded school, she considers running away - until she and her new friends discover blood and weird pink substances in odd places.