Don't Murder Your Mystery
by Chris Roerden
Published by Bella Rosa Books
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed By Jan Warren
Subtitled: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A.
Don't Murder Your Mystery is a writer's how-to manual geared mainly to mystery writers who are seriously interested in improving their craft. Roerden's uses examples taken from the novels of well-known mystery authors to illustrate her lessons and uses clever word association linked to the mystery genre to explain each section.
From--Part 1: Dead on Arrival--covers the ins and outs of submitting your manuscript to a publisher and how to avoid common mistakes, which could prove fatal to all of your hard work.
To--Part 9: Loose Ends--includes information on telling vs. showing, strengthening weaknesses in style and other abuses and misuses of words. In fact, all of the chapters are filled to the brim with valuable information you don't have to be a cracker-jack sleuth to uncover. At the back of the book are reference sites to continue your journey.
For any writer, whether beginner or veteran, who wants to write mysteries, I highly recommend Don't Murder Your Mystery. The colorfully worded illustrations and formatting style makes it easy to read and apply to your work in progress.
There are some wonderful books out there for learning the craft of writing (of which I have several), but I recommend this one because of the ease of locating information, and the quality of information found there.
Armchair Interviews says: A 5-star book about writing mysteries.
Author's Web site: http://www.bellarosabooks.com