How to Write a Mystery (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780345397584)

WHODUNIT? YOUDUNIT
So you want to write a mystery. There's more to it than just a detective, a dead body, and Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the candlestick. Fortunately, Larry Beinhart--Edgar Award-winning author of You Get What You Pay For, Foreign Exchange, and American Hero--has taken a break from writing smart, suspenseful thrillers to act as your guide through all the twists and turns of creating the twists and turns of a good mystery.
Drawing on advice and examples from a host of the best names in mystery writing--from Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane to Scott Turow and Thomas Harris--plus some of his own prime plots, Larry Beinhart introduces you to your most indispensable partners in crime:
*Character, plot, and procedure
* The secrets to creating heroes, heroines, and villains ("All writers draw upon themselves and their experience. While the whole of yourself might not be capable of being either a serial killer or an FBI agent, there are parts in each of us that are capable of almost anything.")
* The fine art of scripting the sex scene
*The low-down on violence ("A crime novel without violence is like smoking pot without inhaling, sex without orgasm, or a hug without a squeeze." )
*And much more
From the opening hook to the final denouement, Larry Beinhart takes the mystery out of being a mystery writer.

Author: Larry Beinhart
ISBN-10: 0345397584
ISBN-13: 9780345397584
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Language: English
Published: 07/09/1996
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.69lbs
Size: 8.54h x 5.56w x 0.59d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/1996 pg. 127