Chapter 24: Clues that Answer, Why?

We’ve talked about the two clue types that are most likely to tell your Sleuth what happened. Now, let’s talk about the two types that are most likely to tell her why the Villain committed his crime.

Behavioral clues

We’ll start with behavioral clues—which are the actions, expressions, and attitudes of the suspects.

These, as you can see, cover a lot of ground. If a man stands apart from his wife at a funeral? Behavioral clue. If a suspect winces when the Sleuth opens a particular cabinet? Behavioral clue. If a character checks her horoscope first thing every morning? Again, a behavioral clue.

What behavioral clues do is give the reader a picture of what it’s like inside the heads of the characters. What are they feeling? What do they know? What beliefs do they cleave to, and how do they order their priorities?

Now, the sum of all human behavior is obviously too vast for me to enumerate all the kinds of behavioral clues you might use. But here are some things to think about:

• Behavioral clues can betray the character’s feelings. In an episode of Monk called “Mr. Monk and the Psychic,” Monk sees the Villain boxing up his late wife’s possessions—mere hours after her funeral. This helps us understand that he doesn’t truly grieve her death.

• Behavioral clues can indicate what the character knows. In the movie Clue, a group of characters who have been invited to a remote mansion by an unknown person. When the guests try to puzzle out the identity of their host, the butler, Wadsworth, smirks and chuckles. This tells us that Wadsworth not only knows the host’s identity, but finds it somehow amusing. This clue will eventually be borne out when we realize that Wadsworth is the host.

• Behavioral clues can establish the culture of the character. In an episode of Murdoch Mysteries called “Voices,” Murdoch overhears one of the nuns in a convent begging someone to “help me find my cross.” Since most Catholics would say “crucifix” rather than “cross,” this helps us figure out which nun was speaking—the one who grew up Anglican.