March 31, 2007

BookReview.com

Review: Mystery Writing in a Nutshell
Rating: Excellent!

James A. Rock & Company Publishers
Web Page: www.rockpublishing.com

Reviewed by: John Lehman

"What if…" No that's not a section heading of this Elements of Style sized book for wannabe mystery writers, but a question that I asked when I read that the senior McAleer introduced a crime fiction course at Boston College in the 1960s. Oh my God, I was accepted at Boston College in the 60s, and as a fan of the genera would most certainly have wormed my way into the class had I gone there. Fifty years later, as I struggle over the drafts of two suspense novels, I realize, like George Bailey, I can learn what I've been missing and enjoy A Wonderful Life. Or can I?

The first two chapters and the last of this father and son authored book are the best. They focus on creating suspense, the story, the hook and structuring plot. Besides some practical suggestions (spend a day in a courtroom) and snappy quotes ("There are two types of statistics: Those you look up, and those you make up." - Rex Stout) there are some intriguing phrases sprinkled about like clues that remain long after the book is finished ("think quicksand," "always be in writer-overdrive," "the clue shell game"). Unfortunately there are also brief Hints-from-Heloise entries—on using brochures from exotic places, checking clothes catalogs to dress your characters and noting how TV meteorologists describe weather—that seem a fast track to dreadful writing. Under the heading "Birds and Animals" I read, "Knowledge of birds and their habits can be interesting to readers." But then there was that Hitchcock movie. I also could have done without the twenty-five pages of reprinted interviews (somewhat fawning) and previously published articles that struck me as filler at the end of the short book (though it is amusing that eighty-nine year old Rex Stout sounded an awful lot like Nero Wolfe).

What I learned helpful to my books is the need for plot "to fight against time," how having two seemingly disparate crimes or incidents intensify reader involvement, that the weapon and/or manner of a killing affect how readers feel about a victim and finally some practical ins and outs of effective titling. The Foreword by Mystery Grand Master Edward Hoch says today's writers don't want to plow through hundred's of pages of how-to books to learn the genre's fundamentals, they want to begin. I plead guilty as charged. And even If this book can't guarantee a mystery writer that Frank Capra ending it deserves a place of honor next to his or her Strunk and White for trying.