Writing a Murder Mystery Novel

Any suggestions?

I can give away the ending

Lord Edgar Elgar is the victim, murdered at the dinner table when the lights go out

Are you sure there's a market for something so completely original??

R3 I hope so!

This is traditional, but with a modern twist!

This sounds like every bad community theater production. I can already see the awkward cast photos shot by a local wedding photographer meant to convey the tone of the story.

A confirmed old bachelor? So you're writing about Lindsey Graham?

R5 that's rude

Does Reginald also happen to be Lord Elgar's heir, OP?

Shouldn't "nephew" be in quotation marks? I mean, we've been down this path before...

Is there no role for me?

It looks like you have 8 male characters and 3 female ones. Why?

It’s always confusing when the cast’s a mosh pit of mustaches running around, waving cigars.

R8 Here is the big reveal breakdown, I think:

Reginald is actually the son of Lady Foxcroft. Sir Hillary is the father and a homosexual.

Sister Agnes is the sister of Lord Elgar. Lord Elgar was having an affair with the much younger Josephina Terry, who had a coat hanger abortion. Josephina was also sleeping with Rupert Thorndyke, who is a scam artist. Thorndyke was also sleeping with Sir Hillary. Together, they plotted to kill Lord Elgar, but it did not work out because Lady Foxcroft killed him first.

Sister Agnes kills Josephina by throwing a gargoyle from the roof because she thought it was Lady Foxcroft.

The drunken Oswald is killed by being ran over. Complete accident. Not sure by who yet.

The reverend Mr. Kent killed Lord Elgar because he was madly in love with Sister Agnes. He discovered they were siblings had proof. He wanted the fortune and Sister Agnes would mysteriously die of her "illness."

Dame Maggie, you can play the great American tragic actress, of course! Hell, you could play pretty much any role in this farce better than the community theatre actors that will eventually be called upon when the novel doesn't get published and the local dramatic society is paid to adapt it next season.

Pft!

Any other thoughts?

Consider adding an upstart Cockney maid who becomes hysterical over the mysterious goings-on. Her screeching and tray dropping will add texture to the story.

Can a little chimney sweep appear in a cloud of fallling dust at some point?

Maybe a key piece of hidden evidence clatters out onto the hearth along with him.

R16 and R17 no, this is a drama, not a comedy.

So, there can’t be an ancient dinosaur egg in someone’s glass case that overheats, hatches, and runs wild?

That could be dramatic.

Lady Foxcroft smuggles the crucial clue right under the detectives nose by shoving it up her dusty snatch

OP, you need a colorful detective, amateur or otherwise. "Inspector Hobson" just isn't going to cut it.

I agree, R21. OP, I suggest you add a picaresque gardener whom everyone dismisses as the village idiot. Only he's very observant and knows a lot about human nature. He announces the solution at the very beginning, but of course no one believes him. Optional: Inspector Hobson steals his solution and takes credit for solving the case, and our gardener lets him get away with it because he "knows his place" in society and would never dream of getting above himself.

Work prussic acid into the plot.

The story needs a sassy black maid teeming with wisdom.

I want to be smarmy about your efforts, but I can't bring myself to smarm.

I offer only one suggestion: Do not make a gay character the murderer.

There should be an abortion.

Maybe the nun?

Or the nun performs abortions.

So, Ten Little Indians with a little Clue and a dash of Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte?

Needs more sex and gore and the twist at the end. There's always the twist.

A one-eyed nun performing abortions?

R27 maybe. How do you get clue out of this?

[quote]r29 A one-eyed nun performing abortions?

It fits the period. Abortions were dangerous back then.

[quote]Lord Edgar Elgar is the victim, murdered at the dinner table when the lights go out

Oh, and Murder by Death.

[quote]Shouldn't "nephew" be in quotation marks? I mean, we've been down this path before...

And shouldn't he called Joel?

People, people, focus, focus! It's 2023... casting this opus is key.

We need to ask and answer the following... who is the 'T' character? Are any of the characters homosexual? We definitely need some 'color' in the cast, don't we?

So let's think outside the box... maybe Sister Agnes is really, Brother or Father Abner (and the habit hides a lot, like a big dick. Professor Hyde-Whyte... is the character really African or from the Islands (which are part of the British Empire? And he's not white at all. Lady Foxcroft... a lesbian, but forced into marriage when young in order to ensure and inheritance... is she the mother of Reginald?

So many possibilities...

i'm available.