Artistic Adventures with Victoria

So, I have a small problem. I’m not sure I can solve my murder.

I’ll admit, I know who the guilty one is. That helps. I also know how the murder was committed and why. In fact, I could say that I’m quite pleased with the story. I like my crimes cozy and not too cruel. This one is complicated, but not overly so. Am I being overly confident? I hope not.

The story must hide the culprit, but the detective still needs to find the important pieces. So my issue is not the main plot, but how to tie it into the story.

I started by creating mini-mysteries: smaller questions the detective must solve in order to uncover the full story. What does she need to find out? What should she deduce? I have a fairly good idea of what those pieces should be.

The next step is working out who tells what, and what other ways there are to uncover secrets. This seems much more difficult. I have my favourites, but not all information can come from one source. And that raises the problem of the amateur sleuth: why would people talk to her instead of the police?

I’m starting to understand why the police detective is such a convenient starting point.

But if working from the sleuth’s perspective is not getting me anywhere, maybe I should start with the victim instead. Maybe I need to think through the steps that led to the murder, one by one, and then work out how my detective could uncover them.