How to Write a Mystery: Anthony Horowitz’s #1 Tip
Aspiring mystery writers can find endless how-tos and tips for crafting a mystery novel all over the internet. But what’s the single most important factor in making your gripping thriller a great book? Anthony Horowitz, bestselling writer of countless mysteries on the page and the screen, shared what he considers the most important element and the place to start in an August 2024 Zoom interview with MASTERPIECE in anticipation of Moonflower Murders. Find out below, and note: no MASTERPIECE employees were murdered in the making of this article!
I think that I would say to anybody who is writing a murder mystery, it all starts with the motive. Murder mystery is not about murder and it’s not even really about mystery—it’s about character, it’s about people and it’s about emotions. And particularly heightened emotions: fear, hatred, anger. Those are the three strongest emotions.
And I think that all murder begins with two people. One of them wants to kill the other one. Why? What is it about these two people would’ve led them to this extreme situation? And I think that if you don’t get that right, if you don’t have something which is interesting and original and believable and human, then I don’t think you’re going to have a great book. You may have a very clever book, you may have a book which sells a zillion copies, but for me, you would’ve missed the point of what a murder mystery really does.
At the end of the day, here’s you and here’s me having this Zoom conversation. But supposing during the middle of this conversation, I was somehow to murder you, even though it would seem that I’m in England and you are in Boston, in America. But if I were to arrange a story in which I murdered you, it would completely recast this interview. We have to ask ourselves, we thought our relationship was just professional, that we’re doing this interview because we want to promote the show. But obviously there’s something else, something deeper, something darker, wilder.
That only works, really, if there is a reason. Then of course you’ve got to work out the mechanics of how I fake a Zoom call so that I can actually be next door to you in Boston when you think I’m in London and all that sort of stuff. Is this behind me just a set or an electronic image? Have I blue screened or green screened myself? What I’m saying to you to do, the piece of advice, is this: Think about the humanity, get to the characters. That’s what the game is all about. And then build the mystery with all the clues and the fun and the suspense and the trickery around that.
