Connie Shelton is the author  of the Charlie Parker mystery series, the ninth of which is due out in  Fall '05. She has conducted numerous writing and publishing workshops and was senior editor at Intrigue Press for five years. She has been a
Long Ridge instructor for 3-1/2 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Creating Great Mystery Characters

By Connie Shelton

 

 

            What makes a great mystery, one that you can’t put down, one that you’ll remember and recommend to your friends? Plot twists will do it, exotic locales may do it, but the thing that makes most of us come back for more are the people. Fans loved Sherlock Holmes so much that they created an uproar when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off his famous sleuth. In the current mystery field, series are all the rage. Why? Because readers love the characters and don’t want to let them go after just one book. Sue Grafton’s alphabet series, beginning with A is for Alibi, and recently featuring R is for Riccochet, has pretty well guaranteed the author a twenty-six book contract. Grafton’s private investigator, Kinsey Milhone, is a gutsy female with attitude. She rushes in where most of us wouldn’t dare and she’s not afraid to give that perfect comeback, the one most of us only think of after the fact. Read the first book in a popular series like this one and you’ll know what I mean.

            Even in a short mystery, we want to create characters that readers will remember long after they’ve finished the story. We want characters that will do their jobs within the story, being true and believable to their roles. Here are some of the characters you’ll need to include in your own mystery stories.

            At a minimum, every mystery needs a victim, a killer, a sleuth, and some suspects. Let’s take the good guys first:

            Victim – Often, in a mystery story, we tend to think of the victim as the dead body on the floor and we leave it at that. But the most interesting mystery stories involve a multi-faceted victim. Some victims truly are innocent; it’s the person who’s mugged as they leave the ATM or the woman nabbed from the parking lot at the mall. But since murder is most often done in a case where the victim knows his/her killer, there’s so much more potential for interest if you’re willing to delve into the victim’s life. According to police statistics, 90% of murder victims are killed by a friend, lover or family member. Scary thought, isn’t it?

            It’s no wonder, then, that the first place police will look is among the victim’s intimate circle. Your sleuth should do the same. Create details in your victim’s life that could provide motive for murder. Maybe that seemingly innocent blue-eyed blonde teen has really seduced her teacher and is now blackmailing him. Perhaps the guy leaving the ATM was just withdrawing some cash for a drug deal. Look below the surface and you’ll find all kinds of juicy stuff.

Sleuth – The main good-guy (or gal) in your story is going to be your sleuth. Sleuths come in all shapes, sizes, genders and professions. Here are just a few.

The professional – a cop, detective, private investigator, insurance investigator, arson investigator, federal agent (someone who is working on the crime because it’s his/her job)

            The amateur – can be just about anyone who’s working on the crime outside his/her regular job. There are doctors, lawyers, caterers, teachers, archaeologists, scholars, CPAs, social workers, Park Service employees, and many more in current mystery fiction.

            It’s easy enough to figure out why the professional sleuth is there. He or she is being paid to do this. We’ve all watched enough television to know why the police are on the scene and pretty much what they do when they get there. Using an amateur sleuth gets a little more tricky. You have to come up with a compelling reason for that person to get involved. With an older crime (a cold case) it’s easier for the amateur to become involved. The police have done their thing but not solved the crime, so the amateur angrily decides he/she can learn something new. Or perhaps the amateur was on the scene when the crime happened, but feels the police are going in the wrong direction. Often, the amateur has reason to believe the police’s number one suspect is being railroaded and feels compelled to find the real killer before this innocent person is shoved into the gas chamber.

            A lawyer might get involved because he’s defending a client and feels that the police are out to frame his guy. A CPA could notice evidence of financial fraud that the police refuse to consider. A Jessica Fletcher-type little old lady might be pulled into service to help a friend in need (she could also just be a busybody, you can envision the type).

            Many writers choose their sleuth based on their own expertise in a certain field (cuts way down on the amount of research you must do). If you’re a lawyer, your sleuth might also be one, or a doctor, or a historian. If you’re an average housewife, without a glamorous career to draw upon, look at what interests you. Diane Mott Davidson’s sleuth is a caterer, and there are fabulous recipes included in each of her books. Susan Wittig Albert’s sleuth is an herbalist. Aside from your own experiences, look to your friends and family for expertise, or simply pull out the Yellow Pages. If you want to include a hairdresser or an insurance man and know nothing about those businesses, ask. For nearly any profession you can find an expert who is willing to feed you the details of his/her job.

            On to the bad guys. Every mystery is going to have at least one, often more than one. Once you’ve determined your Story Problem (see my article on Writing the Whodunnit) or chosen your victim for this particular story, you’ll probably have a good idea who the killer is going to be. Motives and relationships will become apparent (to you, not to your readers, not right away). The main concern in creating bad guys is to remember that no one (other than a complete psychotic sociopath) is entirely bad. Even serial killer Ted Bundy was personable and polite, well dressed and clean cut. Keep this in mind. Give your bad guy characters a few good traits, too. Or give them lots of good traits, with just one bad trait. It’s conceivable that even a church-deacon-Boy Scout leader can be a serial killer (we saw that scenario on the news very recently). Anger and hatred can boil beneath the surface of even the most calm demeanor.

            Aside from the victim, sleuth and killer, you’ll fill your story with other people as well. I tend to think of them as suspects and sidekicks. A sleuth working alone can often use a secondary person as a sounding board, someone they can bounce ideas off of, someone who can toss in the occasional idea the sleuth hasn’t thought of--Sherlock’s Dr. Watson, Perry Mason’s Della Street. My own character, Charlie Parker, has her business partner/brother, her husband, and her grandmotherly neighbor. Many detectives and amateurs alike will have multiple sidekicks.

            Suspects can consist of anyone and everyone. Again, look to your victim to figure out who would likely want this person dead. The reasons can be obvious or obscure (preferably the latter).

            With all your characters, your challenge will be to make them interesting. Aside from giving them motives for murder, you may want to saddle them with baggage. From alcoholism or drug use, to failed marriages, to rough childhoods, everyone’s got baggage. Give some past-life problems (or current-life problems) to your sleuth as well as your other characters. Baggage needn’t take over the story—it better not take over the story--but it comes into play nevertheless. Look for ways to tuck in little hints about personal problems.

            Mainly, you want to look for variety within your cast. If every character is an addict, or a drunk, or a crook, you’ll have a dark story indeed. Similarly, if every character is a sweet, churchgoing, wonderful neighbor and loving parent, you’re asking for blandness.  Use a variety of people with a variety of traits as you create your cast of characters. (See my article on Creating Memorable Characters for more help in adding depth.)

            Have fun with the process. Being a fiction writer gives you an enormous amount of power. Don’t settle for bland, same-old-same-old characters. Give them personality!