Elizabeth Spann Craig
Bestselling Cozy Mystery Author
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethspanncraig.com Complex murder schemes might seem clever, but they often backfire with readers who prefer believable motives and realistic methods. The best mysteries feel like they could actually happen. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethspanncraig.com The most satisfying mysteries offer readers that amazing “I should have seen it coming” moment when the killer is finally unveiled. For a mystery writer, one of the [...]
by Jenna Maeson The paranormal is a big deal in books right now. Like a really big deal. And it seems to be infiltrating all genres, even the ones that don’t usually include [...]
Planting Seeds for Your Mystery’s Solution by Elizabeth S. Craig The most satisfying mystery solutions can hinge on details that were hiding in plain sight all along. Mystery writers are constantly walking the [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig If you’ve written cozy mysteries (or read them) for any length of time, you’ve probably encountered this common character dynamic: your amateur sleuth is busily investigating a murder while [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve read several mysteries lately that have surprised me. For a while, I’ve thought all mystery writers understood that mysteries are meant to be interactive affairs. The reader [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig There’s something to be said for making mysteries less complicated. It’s no fun for the reader when the murderer is revealed, and they’re not sure who the character [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve written here before about cozy mystery victims and how tricky the process can be. It’s tough to make the victim a genuinely good person when you need [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Today I’ve got a quick tip for mystery writers to help keep readers questioning the killer’s identity until the end of the book. It’s a pretty simple one, [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I have the luxury now of uninterrupted reading time, when I didn’t as much when my kids were little. But I still notice that I have the ability [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Happy Halloween, everybody! On this day of spooky celebration, I thought I’d take a quick look at scares in cozy mysteries, known as being gentler reads than other [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Hi everyone! I’m guest posting at David Farland’s blog today on the process of writing a Christmas cozy mystery. Hope you can pop over and join me! Tips [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Cozy mysteries offer a very quiet approach to death for mystery readers. The crimes are never described in gory detail. The methods aren’t ordinarily very grim (I’ve [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig After writing about fifty cozy mysteries, I think I’ve used just about every story opener possible. I’ve opened with the dead body a few times. Sometimes I’ve had [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I started reading the cozy mystery master Agatha Christie at a very impressionable age and loved the construction of her books and the characters she created. There were [...]
by Elizabeth Spann Craig, @elizabethscraig Cozy mysteries have a host of different settings, but one of the most popular, for writers as well as readers, is the small-town setting. It’s fun to have [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I spend a lot of time reading blog posts and sharing them. I’ve noticed there are tons of posts on crafting better story openers. The posts usually talk [...]
by Elizabeth Spann Craig, @elizabethscraig I realized a couple of years ago that any time I’m interviewed for a podcast or anytime that a writer asks me about writing cozies, I immediately try [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig You probably wouldn’t think of funerals in cozy mysteries as having an important part in the story. But I know the time I left funerals out of a [...]
by Ellen Jacobson, @Ellen_Jacobson One of the quintessential hallmarks of a cozy mystery series is a hook such as the amateur sleuth’s hobby (knitting, quilting, gardening), profession (real estate agent, florist, archaeologist), place [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig In every cozy mystery, there comes a time when the sleuth puts together various clues and realizes who the perpetrator is. But the timing of this revelation can [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Red herrings, or false leads, can add a lot to a mystery and serve different purposes. How red herrings add to mysteries: They make the mystery more complex. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig When I came back from my France trip in July, several people asked me if I was planning to ‘take Myrtle on a trip to Paris.’ Although I [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Wow. We’ve covered a lot of ground in this four-part blog series on how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Standalone or series. It’s a dilemma that many novelists face. But for authors of cozy mysteries, the decision’s almost a foregone conclusion: series. By all accounts, that’s what [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Here’s the scenario: You’re writing a cozy mystery. And your victim is unlikeable. Your suspect list is, as they say, healthy. You’re having a blast coming up with motives [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig For me, brainstorming clues for my mysteries has always been one of the toughest parts of writing a mystery. Mystery readers are incredibly savvy and they’re very good [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Suspect interviews aren’t quite as simple as they may seem. Something that may seem very straightforward for a police officer can be very different for a gifted amateur. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Here’s a quick tip today for cozy mystery writers. Is your cozy mystery too short? Do readers (or beta readers) say that they were able to figure out [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig If you’re writing a cozy mystery, there are little things that come up sometimes. Writing is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure process. You have so many different choices that can take [...]
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