Chapter 32: Hiding Clues, A Beginning

Not all clues are created equal

At last, we come to the chapters on hiding clues. I know you’re itching to learn more about how to sneak your clues in right under your reader’s nose, but please indulge me for a moment, as I begin this chapter by raising a rather philosophical question:

What is the purpose of a clue?

Is it:

• To “play fair” with the reader, by giving her the opportunity to solve the case before your Sleuth reveals the ending?

• To justify the ending, so that the reader can see how everything fits together?

In my opinion, the answer to both of these is “no.” Oh, playing fair and justifying the ending are both good things, to be sure. But to my mind, the purpose of a clue is to create, at the moment of the big reveal, the perfect emotional experience for your reader. What’s that perfect experience? A moment of shock, followed almost immediately by a moment of synthesis, as the reader realizes that all the little puzzle pieces that you’ve dropped along the way can be assembled to create a compelling picture of the Villain’s guilt.

In order for this to work, those puzzle pieces can’t exist just in the text. You must have placed them in such a way that they also linger in your reader’s brain. When your Sleuth says, “As you remember, Lord Everly wore the same costume to the fete that Duke Ellington wore last year,” you don’t want your reader to think, “Hmm… ok, if you say so.” You want her to think, “That’s right! He DID!”

This allows her to have an experience of realization, as she nods along with each deduction your Sleuth makes, the gears in her head wheeling crazily. This is far better than a moment of revelation, where your reader passively receives the Sleuth’s deductions, accepting them without really remembering the moments in the story where the clues were delivered.

Realization vs. revelation. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but a potent one for mystery lovers everywhere.

So, in the next three chapters, we’re going to talk about how to get those clues into your reader’s brain. We’re going to talk about how to introduce them surely, yet subtly, so the reader may not even realize they’ve taken up residence in her skull.