Download or read book Crafting crime fiction written by Henry Sutton and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John le Carré said the best place to start a crime novel is as near to the end of the story as possible. But how do you know what the story is? As writers, we all have different experiences and skills to draw upon, and this book will help you identify the right beginning, middle and end for your own crime novel. Whether you are writing a police procedural or a psychological thriller, you will need to consider the basic elements of a gripping narrative. Within these pages, you'll learn to master the art of storytelling, from creating a compelling plot that keeps readers on the edge of their seats to choosing the perfect point of view to bring your characters to life. Dive into the depths of suspense, mystery, and surprise, as you unravel the intricacies of crafting a crime novel that captivates and entertains. This guide will help any new or experienced writer to navigate the writing journey, uncovering the core principles that will make your crime fiction truly exceptional.
Download or read book Fight Write written by Carla Hoch and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.
Download or read book Writing Crime and Suspense Fiction written by Lesley Grant-Adamson and published by Hodder Education. This book was released on 1996 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an invaluable resource for anyone planning to write any type of crime fiction, from whodunnits to thrillers. It is full of exercises to get the reader writing and includes a range of quotations and tips from a whole host of established names.
Download or read book First Class Murder written by Robin Stevens and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A murdered heiress, a missing necklace, and a train full of shifty, unusual, and suspicious characters leaves Daisy and Hazel with a new mystery to solve in this third novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are taking a vacation across Europe on world-famous passenger train, the Orient Express—and it’s clear that each of their fellow first-class travelers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: There’s rumor of a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, a bloodcurdling scream comes from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered—her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer has vanished, as if into thin air. The Wells & Wong Detective Society is ready to crack the case—but this time, they’ve got competition.
Download or read book Talking About Detective Fiction written by P. D. James and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-05-03 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.
Download or read book Heaven Preserve Us written by Cricket McRae and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2011-12-08 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wine jelly. Watermelon pickles. And a suicidal stalker? Great. Thirty-something crafter extraordinaire Sophie Mae Reynolds makes preserves by day and answers a crisis center help referral line by night. What better way to help people while still keeping a low profile? But on her very first night, she gets a call from a man who is threatening suicide...and her. Angrily deeming the caller a crank, her boss, Philip Heaven, disconnects the line. Days later, Philip dies from a nasty case of botulism. Now, as a stalker singles out Sophie Mae, Philip's eerie last words keep coming back to haunt her: Threat. Meant it. Stirring up the town with talk of murder by preserves, can Sophie Mae and her handsome boyfriend Detective Barr Ambrose spoil a mad murderer's poisonous plans? This dangerously delicious second book in the Home Crafting Mystery series also includes recipes for preserves and beauty products! Praise: "McRae writes about characters that we really care about, and her plot is thoroughly credible. Sophie Mae and her friends deserve many more adventures."—Booklist "There's something special about Ms. McRae as her strong characters and unique plot are definitely spellbinding."—Sydney Star Observer "Murder by preserves promises your enjoyment of McRae's humor."—The Coloradoan "Sophie Mae is a confident woman with an appetite for mystery and Heaven Preserve Us is a good one. The characters are engaging, the story intriguing, and the book a pleasure to read."—Mysterious Reviews "McRae delivers another satisfying and clever novel with an intriguing plot—murder by botulism."—Fresh Fiction "Nicely paced without any time wasted, Heaven Preserve Us does a fine job of leading the readers through the investigation with no false starts or cheap side trips...solid and entertaining."—Reviewing the Evidence "McRae ably navigates the waters of small-town crime, establishing believable characters and capturing the charm and camaraderie of the denizens of Cadyville. This town might well be worth visiting frequently."—Gumshoe Review "Sophie Mae is a top-notch cozy heroine."—Cozy Library
Download or read book The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths written by Martin Edwards and published by Mango Media Inc.. This book was released on 2020-06-16 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor. This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been committed—but how could it have happened? Curated by Maxim Jakubowski, one of the crime genre’s most renowned editors, this volume features never-before-seen stories by acclaimed authors—including British Science Fiction Award–winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award–winner O'Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award–winners and nominees.
Download or read book Wined and Died written by Cricket McRae and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2011-07-08 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Something is brewing in Cadyville, and it's not only dandelion wine. Sophie Mae is intrigued by a recently discovered cassette recording in which a therapist fearfully contemplates her client's murderous threats. When the same therapist ends up dead, Sophie Mae is lured—despite her husband Barr's warnings not to get involved—into an intoxicating investigation that explores the age-old art of mead and wine making. Featuring recipes you can try at home, including one for Homemade Ginger Beer! Praise for the Home Crafting Mystery Series: "This series continues to add depth to its engaging cast of characters, and the home-crafting details remain a delight and an inspiration."—Booklist "The writing is sharp and skilled and Sophie Mae is an appealing, smart character."—RT Book Reviews "Fans of Rosemary Harris and Maggie Sefton will appreciate McRae's crafty series."—Library Journal
Download or read book Teach Yourself Writing Crime Fiction written by Lesley Grant-Adamson and published by Teach Yourself. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What makes a good crime story and how do I write one?"Teach Yourself Crime Fictionanswers these questions for aspiring writers. It analyzes the elements of crime fiction, including classic detective fiction, comic crime fiction, the feminist sleuth, and more. And it leads readers through the process of crafting a piece, showing them how to recognize a good idea for a novel, set a scene, shape characters, develop a plot, research background, use literary techniques and maintain a style, and dig out when they get stuck. It also includes advice on how to sell a novel.
Download or read book Now Write Mysteries written by Sherry Ellis and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-12-29 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential handbook for writers of whodunits, techno- thrillers, cozies, and everything in between-featuring never-before- published personal writing exercises from some of today's bestselling and award-winning mystery writers. Now Write! Mysteries, the fourth volume in the acclaimed Now Write! writing guide series, brings together numerous bestselling authors-including winners of and nominees for the Edgar, Hugo, and Shamus awards,-for the definitive guide to writing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. Now Write! Mysteries teaches you everything you've ever wanted to know about crafting a page-turning mystery-from creating a believable detective hero (or terrifying villain), to using real-life cutting-edge investigative techniques to bring your story to life-with practical exercises taken directly from the pros: Discover the best techniques for seamlessly integrating action into your story with John Lutz, New York Times-bestselling author of Urge to Kill, Night Kills, and Serial. Learn how to fine-tune your sense of place and setting with Louise Penny, New York Times-bestselling author of the Armand Gamache mysteries. Take advice from Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Sleepers and writer/producer for Law & Order, on how to compose a scene that lives up to your character's backstory. Let Marcia Talley, Agatha- and Anthony-winning author of the Hannah Ives mysteries, show you how to build a memorable, engaging detective. (Hint: It's not about making him flawless.) Others included are: Simon Brett, Hallie Ephron, Meg Gardiner, Peter James, Christopher G. Moore, Michael Sears, and many others. No other mystery-writing guide offers the road tested wisdom of so many award-winners and bestselling authors in one place.
Download or read book How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery written by Andrea J. Johnson and published by Andrea J. Johnson. This book was released on with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 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 worksheets and questionnaires designed to streamline the writing process, this comprehensive step-by-step guide will help you create compelling characters, vivid settings, and clever storylines. Whether you’re a new writer or just new to the genre, you will walk away from How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery with a checklist for everything you’ll need to start your first draft, and you will also learn… · The history behind the modern cozy and why they’re so popular with today’s audiences · The 13 key reader expectations for the genre · The 10 essential rules every cozy must follow to create a fair play puzzle · The difference between cozies, thrillers, capers, detective stories, and police procedurals · The difference between a premise and a hook—and how to kick-butt writing both · The essential beats for the four-act plot structure · How to effectively hide clues and create plot twists And as a special bonus, How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery contains an extensive *GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS* as well as modern and classic examples of commonly used mystery solutions and misdirects.
Download or read book Anglophone African Detective Fiction 1940 2020 written by Matthew J. Christensen and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a survey of Anglophone African detective fiction, from the late 1940s to the present day, this study traces its history both as a literary form and a mode of critical exploration of the fraught sovereignties of the African state and its citizens. Since the late 1940s, African writers including Cyprian Ekwensi, Arthur Maimane, Adaora Lily Ulasi, Hilary Ng'weno, Unity Dow, Parker Bilal, and Angela Makholwa have published over 200 murder mysteries, police procedurals, spy thrillers, and other fictional narratives of investigation and discovery in English-language newspapers, magazines, and novels. Distributed widely across the continent's diverse cultural and political geographies, these texts share aesthetic characteristics and thematic preoccupations that reflect transnational networks of production, circulation, and influence. Anglophone African Detective Fiction, 1940-2020 surveys this literary history and examines how African writers have repeatedly harnessed the detective story to interrogate postcolonial realities of selfhood and the state. It argues that African writers have turned the detective story into a highly productive, while at the same time suspense-filled and entertaining, mode of social and political critique, first of colonialism and the independence era and latterly of neoliberal governance. Offering an overview of paradigmatic texts, from Ghana to Kenya and Sudan to South Africa, the book traces the contours of the history of Anglophone African detective fiction that is at once a cultural history of a uniquely African assessment of the ongoing problematics of sovereignty and decolonization.
Download or read book The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes written by Graeme Davis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This masterful collection of seventeen classic mystery stories, dating from 1837 to 1914, traces the earliest history of popular detective fiction. Today, the figure of Sherlock Holmes towers over detective fiction like a colossus—but it was not always so. Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin, the hero of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” anticipated Holmes’ deductive reasoning by more than forty years. In A Study in Scarlet, the first of Holmes’ adventures, Doyle acknowledged his debt to Poe—and to Émile Gaboriau, whose thief-turned-detective Monsieur Lecoq debuted in France twenty years earlier. If Rue Morgue was the first true detective story in English, the title of the first full-length detective novel is more hotly contested. Among the possibilities are two books by Wilkie Collins—The Woman in White (1859) and The Moonstone (1868)—Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s The Trail of the Serpent (1861) or Aurora Floyd (1862), and The Notting Hill Mystery (1862-3) by the pseudonymous “Charles Felix.” As the early years of detective fiction gave way to two separate golden ages—hard-boiled tales in America and intricately-plotted “cozy” murders in Britain—and these new sub-genres went their own ways, their detectives still required the intelligence and clear-sightedness that characterized the earliest works of detective fiction: the trademarks of Sherlock Holmes, and of all the detectives featured in these pages.
Download or read book Howdunit Forensics written by D.P. Lyle and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-03-21 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just because you don't have all the tools and training of a full-time medical examiner, doesn't mean you can't learn your way around a crime scene. In Forensics, award-winning author and TV show consultant D.P. Lyle, M.D., takes each area of forensics–from fingerprint analysis to crime scene reconstruction–and discusses its development, how the science works, how it helps in crime solving, and how you as a writer might use this technique in crafting your plot. This comprehensive reference guide includes: • Real-life case files and the role forensic evidence played in solving the crimes • A breakdown of the forensics system from its history and organization to standard evidence classification and collection methods • Detailed information on what a dead body can reveal–including the cause, mechanism, and manner of death • The actual steps taken to preserve a crime scene and the evidence that can be gathered there, such as bloodstains, documents, fingerprints, tire impressions, and more Forensics is the ultimate resource for learning how to accurately imbue your stories with authentic details of untimely demises.
Download or read book Detective Fiction Through Ages written by HAMEED and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2023-07-21 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embark on a thrilling literary odyssey with "Detective Fiction Through Ages," a captivating exploration of the genre's evolution from bygone eras to the present day. Delve into the minds of literary giants such as Edgar Allan Poe, whose dark and macabre tales laid the foundation for the genre. Witness the psychological depth of Fyodor Dostoevsky's works, where complex characters grapple with the eternal struggle between good and evil. Experience the grandeur of Victor Hugo's storytelling as he weaves intricate plots within the tapestry of historical events. "Detective Fiction Through Ages" pays homage to literary pioneers like Vikas Swarup, Anita Nair, Satyajit Ray, Austin Freeman, E.C. Bentley, G.K. Chesterton, and Melvin Davisson Post as they reshaped the genre with their distinctive approaches, showcasing their contributions to a genre that continues to captivate readers worldwide. From the classic tales that laid the groundwork to the fresh perspectives of contemporary authors, this book celebrates the enduring power of detective fiction and its ability to transport us into a world of intrigue, suspense, and relentless pursuit of truth.
Download or read book The Real and the Reflected Heroes and Villains in Existent and Imagined Worlds written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-09-25 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Real and the Reflected: Heroes and Villains in Existent and Imagined Worlds, unpacks many of the issues that surround heroes and villains. It explores the shadows that fall between the traditional black and white definitions of good and evil.
Download or read book The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie written by Mary Anna Evans and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-08 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nominated for the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical / Biography The first specifically academic companion to contemporary scholarship on the work of Agatha Christie, this book includes chapters by an international group of scholars writing on topics and fields of study as various as ecocriticism and the anthropocene, popular modernism, middlebrow fiction, queer theory, feminism, crime and the state, and more. It addresses a broad selection of Christie's crime novels, as well as her short stories, literary novels written pseudonymously, and her own and others' dramatic adaptations for television, film, and the stage. Featuring unprecedented access to images and content held in Christie's personal archive, as well as a Foreword from renowned crime fiction writer Val McDermid, this is essential reading for anyone interested in Christie's work and legacy.
