What makes a great mystery

A few years back, we started writing our detective show, Unlicensed. Neither of us had much experience writing mysteries, and so we started reading a bunch of them. The classics. New hits. Weird indie stuff. Whatever seemed like it might be doing something interesting with the form.

From all of that reading, and from the experience of writing three seasons of Unlicensed, here are some ideas I have formed about what makes a good mystery story.

1. The detective must solve the mystery.

This might seem obvious, but the number of mysteries that reach a solution through coincidence, accident, or even (in the case of one inexplicably well reviewed mystery) the culprit abruptly confessing for no reason after the detective has done nothing at all for the entire book. Not only must the mystery be solved, but it must be solved because of active choices the detective has made, not just events that coincidentally happened around them.

2. The mystery must be solved based on the evidence and reality we have been presented with.

I do not think it has to be done Encyclopedia Brown style, where I could piece together everything without reading the last few pages, but I do think that when I learn the solution, it should track with everything I have seen so far. My response should be "oh of course!" not "huh??"

The above are the basics. Without it, what you have is a bad mystery, not worth reading. There are plenty of good mysteries that only follow the above two rules, but let's talk about what makes a great mystery.

3. This might seem obvious, but a great mystery needs a great detective.

The best puzzle in the world will be forgettable without its heart, who should be both brilliant but also in some way wounded.

4. A mystery generally falls into three categories:

a) Puzzle, which focuses on an intricate mystery that comes together in surprising ways.

b) World, which focuses mainly on exploring the world of the mystery, each step of the mystery taking us to a new location with a new character, a little vignette.

c) Character, a mystery which focuses primarily on a story tied directly into the core self of the detective, so that solving the mystery means transforming or being destroyed in some key way.

Of course, the best mysteries combine these in some way. A great puzzle and a great world (The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei). A great puzzle and a deep character story (The Secret Place and The Trespasser by Tana French). And the all-timers manage to combine all three (LA Confidential by James Ellroy).

This is not meant to be a definitive guide, but some notes on what has worked for me, and what I try to do in our work with Unlicensed. Some mysteries are exciting just because of their incredible narrative voice (anything by Ross MacDonald), or because of their innovative structure (The Appeal by Janice Hallett) or because they explore underappreciated parts of history (the books of Walter Mosley)

There are other little tricks you learn, for instance that a good mystery often has two solutions, a red herring solution that makes total sense but turns out to be false, and then a final twist ending that presents a completely different story that fits all the same facts. But I do think these points above are the best guideposts to writing a great mystery.

-Joseph Fink