Monday, August 18, 2014

Help! Help! I Need Help in Mystery Writing


I’m a hundred pages into my current work in progress, which is a sci-fi story that takes place in the not too distant future, and a murder has occurred, which was a bit unexpected. An investigative detective team has been brought in, and I love these guys and what they bring to the story. The problem: I know nothing about mystery writing.

Having zero knowledge about a subject has never stopped me before, and it won’t this time. But I feel I do need some pointers, like what kind of things go on at a murder scene once the police arrive, what kinds of things happen at an autopsy, what would warrant the FBI’s involvement, etc. I have a few hundred questions, and I’m willing to take the time to learn because I think this story deserves to be done right, or at least done well.

So I’m asking for help. Are there any reference books or websites that you mystery writers can recommend that would give be some basic understanding of the police/FBI processes involved with analyzing and solving a murder case?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not sure if you could consider this a "reference," but there are many wonderful shows on TV related to crime scenes. One that comes to mind is "CSI" because that is ALL they focus on - crime scene investigations.

Not sure if it will help, but thought I'd toss it out here.