A Mystery Writer's Commandments

When you decide that it's time for you to start writing mystery fiction for yourself, you must remember to follow the basic rules of mystery. They are:

1. The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective to solve the mystery. All the clues must be plainly stated and described. No false clues to mislead the reader.

2. There can be no willful tricks or deceptions played on the reader, unless they are also played on the detective.

3. No love interest. Or, if there is, the romance must not interfere with the real story- the solution of the mystery.

4. No antiquated devices like twins or doubles, secret passages and the like. The mystery must be a natural one, solved without gimmicks and tricks.

5. The murder must be discovered by logical deduction, not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession.

6. There must be a corpse and it must be dead. No sudden discovery that the corpse is alive after all.

7. The crime must be solved by natural means. There can be no Ouija boards, mind reading, seances, or crystal ball gazing.

8. There must be but one detective. He can have a partner, but not a whole gang.

9. The murder must have played a prominent part in the story.

10. The murderer must not be a servant.

11. The criminal and the victim must behave sanely. The motivation cannot be insanity.

12. The crime must never turn out to be an accident or suicide.

13. No undiscovered poisons or applications that need a long scientific explanation at the end.

14. The detective must not turn out to be the murder.

Now remember, there are always exceptions to every rule, but as far as basic writing goes, most mystery short stories and novels adhere to these rules.

Based on: Msgr. Ronald A Knox, "A Detective Story Decalogue,"in Haycrat, Howard, editor. The Art of the Mystery Story. New York : Carroll Graf, 1974, pp. 194-196, and S.S. Van Dine, "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories." in Ibid, pp.189-193. This information is reprinted from the document "A Mystery Writer's Commandments." If the author of this piece feels that his/her piece should not be here, I will remove it without any hard feelings.