MYSTERY MADE EASY by M. E. Kemp

"How do
you do it? I could never write a
mystery." I'm sure most mystery
writers hear this question often. I teach
a mystery writing course at a women writers' retreat in the Adirondack
Mountains of upstate New York -- a perfect setting for a murder, with
mountains, a lake and an island a short canoe-ride from the old Lodge. In fact I've written a short story called
"Murder in the Boathouse" to be published soon in the Retreat
Anthology. I teach my writing students
that it's not so intimidating a task if you just break it up into its natural
sections. Any mystery must have five
ingredients.
(1.) a Detective, with or without a sidekick. The detective may or may not be a human. Dogs and cats make popular detective series and I've used a pig named Priscilla in some of my stories -- pigs are really smart animals, particularly the old heritage breed of pig I use. (Yes, I did my research on a heritage pig farm - this breed likes to take off…
(1.) a Detective, with or without a sidekick. The detective may or may not be a human. Dogs and cats make popular detective series and I've used a pig named Priscilla in some of my stories -- pigs are really smart animals, particularly the old heritage breed of pig I use. (Yes, I did my research on a heritage pig farm - this breed likes to take off…