There was talk of poison, revenge, a Japanese sword and a particularly unpleasant librarian at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Wednesday evening, October 7. Fortunately, it was all fiction.
Three mystery writers from Sisters in Crime New England — one of the largest chapters of Sisters in Crime International — invited library visitors to help create a murder mystery from scratch, using audience suggestions for characters, weapons, motives and settings. (Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.)
Authors Edith Maxwell, Sharon Healy-Yang and Kit Irwin led the interactive program, drawing suggestions from four bags and brainstorming their way through a story that nobody, including the authors, knew how to finish.
Among the dozen or so attendees was Sandy Churchill of West Bridgewater, who made the roughly 40-minute trip to Mattapoisett. A longtime fan of Maxwell, who also writes as Maddie Day, Churchill said she had read all the author’s books.
The setting for the developing mystery became Fairhaven in the early 1900s, during a surprise snowstorm. The proposed victim was Jason Stebbins, an unpopular librarian who seemed to know everyone’s secrets. Among the suggested weapons were a katana sword, a poisoned apple and a Perrier bottle.
An inn emerged as a possible setting, with guests stranded by the storm and plenty of reasons for someone to want Jason dead. There were suggestions of jealousy, revenge, inheritance disputes and even a stolen family recipe.
The exercise demonstrated how mystery writers develop their stories, although the three authors don’t necessarily approach the process the same way.
Maxwell explained that she often begins with a victim, a setting and several possible suspects, allowing the story to unfold as she writes. Sometimes she doesn’t know who the murderer is until well into the book.
Healy-Yang, dressed in a suit and hat reminiscent of the 1940s, looked as though she had stepped out of one of the classic films that inspire her mysteries. She prefers to envision scenes before writing and generally knows who committed the crime before she begins.
Irwin described an approach somewhere between the two, sometimes planning ahead but allowing the story to change as she writes.
All three discussed the importance of leaving clues for readers without making the solution too obvious. The authors talked about misleading suspects, believable motives and giving readers enough information to solve the crime themselves.
The conversation also turned to what makes readers return to a mystery series. Maxwell, whose books include the Country Store Mysteries and Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, said the appeal extends beyond the crime itself.
“So cozies are really about community,” she said, describing the familiar places, relationships and recurring characters that keep readers invested in a series.
Audience members asked questions about character development, plotting, audiobooks and whether fictional characters are based on real people. The authors shared stories about characters who seemed to develop minds of their own and plots that changed direction during the writing process.
By the end of the evening, the group had assembled the makings of a historical mystery, complete with suspects, motives and potential murder weapons.
The killer, however, remained at large.
By Jeanne Hopkins