Howdunit

How not to do it? A Detection Club cartoon by Clewsey.

A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club

CONCEIVED AND EDITED BY

COLLINS CRIME CLUB

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Published by Collins Crime Club 2020

Copyright © The Detection Club 2020

Introduction and editorial material © Martin Edwards 2020

See the section at the end of this eBook on copyright acknowledgmentsfor further information

The individual authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of their work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008380137

Ebook Edition © September 2020 ISBN: 9780008380144

Version: 2020-07-31

Dedicated to Len Deighton, elected to membership of the Detection Club in 1969

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Premise

Martin Edwards Introduction

Motives

G. K. Chesterton The Value of Detective Fiction

R. Austin Freeman The Art of the Detective Story

Ian Rankin Why Crime Fiction Is Good for You

James Runcie Why Do It?

Frances Fyfield The Moral Compass of the Crime Novel

Beginning

Peter James Motivation

Janet Laurence Getting Started

Freeman Wills Crofts Finding Ideas

Nicholas Blake Sources of Inspiration

Anthea Fraser Making Choices

Ann Granger Putting Murder on the Page

Natasha Cooper Intensity in Crime Writing

John Harvey Openings

Peter Robinson ‘Something Should Happen Now’: Narrative Hooks

People

Mark Billingham Character from Suspense

Bill James Cops and Criminals, Contrast and Comedy

Marjorie Eccles Making Characters Believable

June Thomson Characters, Relationships, and Settings

Places

P. D. James On the Suffolk Coast

Ann Cleeves Human Geography

Michael Ridpath Setting Stories in Unfamiliar Places

M.O.

Val McDermid Let the Story Be the Driver

Lindsey Davis Style

Kate Charles Choosing a Theme

Michael Jecks Pace

William Ryan Writing Scenes

Margery Allingham Dialogue, Rhythm, and Keeping to the Point

Patricia Moyes Listening and Dialogue

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Writing Dialogue

Perspectives

Aline Templeton Getting a Perspective

Liza Cody What on Earth Is It Like to Be You?

Plots

Agatha Christie Plots

J. J. Connington Logic and Working Backwards

Mary Kelly All Will Be Revealed

Kate Ellis Structuring a Plot

Eric Ambler Voyages of Discovery

Andrew Taylor How to Change Your Murderer

Detectives

Priscilla Masters Amateur Detective or Professional?

Susan Moody Believable Amateurs

Michael Z. Lewin Private Eyes

Research

Ngaio Marsh Getting It Right

Desmond Bagley Keeping Up to Date

John Malcolm Amateurs and Expertise

Detection

Edmund Crispin Detective Stories and Virtuosity

John Dickson Carr Rules and Prejudices

Christianna Brand Classic Ingredients

Michael Innes Clues

Catherine Aird Snakes and Ladders

Sophie Hannah Optimal Subterfuge

Suspense

Robert Goddard Suspense

Julian Symons The Face in the Mirror

Jessica Mann The Suspense Novel

Celia Fremlin The Hours Before Dawn

Action

Lionel Davidson Inspiration, Perspiration, Realization

Tom Harper Adventure Fiction

Felix Francis Writing Action Scenes

Michael Gilbert Filling the Gaps

Michael Hartland Constructing a Thriller

Mick Herron The Cold War, Then and Now

History

Michael Pearce A Laying On of Hands

Imogen Robertson The Christmas Tree Theory of Historical Research

L. C. Tyler Historical Dialogue

Humour

Alexander McCall Smith Humour and Human Nature

Robert Barnard Characters and Caricature

Ruth Dudley Edwards Humour and Satire

In Short

Roy Vickers Let’s Pretend

H. R. F Keating Switch-overs in Short Stories

Fiction and Fact

Peter Lovesey Fictionalizing Characters and Crimes from Real Life

Anthony Berkeley Trial and Error

Partners in Crime

Dorothy L. Sayers Collaborative Writing

Adapting

Alison Joseph Writing for Radio

Simon Brett Adaptability

Challenges

Martyn Waites Impostor Syndrome

Suzette A. Hill Writing: a Painful Pleasure

David Stuart Davies Writer’s Block

Stella Duffy Improvising

Ending

Laura Wilson The End of the Beginning

Joanna Hines In My End

Publishing

David Roberts The Changing Face of Publishing

Antonia Hodgson What Editors Want

Russell James Traditional versus Self-Publishing

Jill Paton Walsh One Thing Leads to Another

Writing Lives

Reginald Hill The Writing Process

Paula Gosling Keeping Track

Jonathan Gash Reading for Pleasure

Janet Neel Don’t Give Up the Day Job

Bertie Denham Writing to Relax

Elly Griffiths Social Media and the Death of Nancy

John Le Carré The Joy of Writing

Len Deighton Different Books; Different Problems; Different Solutions

The Contributors: Biographical Notes

The Detection Club: Presidents

The Detection Club: Members

Index of Authors

Subject Index

Copyright and Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Publisher

In Howdunit , no fewer than ninety leading crime novelists offer personal perspectives on their approach to their craft – and on the writing life. There are countless valuable insights for would-be writers, but our overriding aim is to entertain and inform anyone who enjoys crime fiction. And perhaps even some people who don’t regard themselves as crime fans – at least not yet – but who are fascinated by the way authors work.