Getting Mysterious with Z. M. Renick

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Z. M. Renick,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

For me, a mystery is primarily about the characters: who are they, how did they end up in these circumstances where a murder (or other crime) was committed, and how does it affect them to be part of it? In a short story, obviously there’s limited time, but in a mystery novel, I like the see all the threads of fate for each of the characters followed and straightened out before the final solution to the mystery.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

The question of what makes a mystery fair-play is more complicated that it appears at first. The obvious answer is that the reader needs to have all of the same information that the detective has. But the detective knows a number of things that aren’t necessarily in the book—not secrets that the author is deliberately hiding from the reader, but simply things about how the world works, things “everyone knows.” He knows that the sky is blue and leaves are green. He knows the weather on a typical July day. He knows the laws of physics. He knows that you have to win by at least thirty-one points to “skunk” your opponent in cribbage, and that no coach’s challenges are allowed during the last two minutes of a half in football. Just how much of that “common knowledge” should be allowed as part of the mystery while still keeping it “fair play”? Ideally, very little outside knowledge should be part of a fair-play mystery. But, at the same time, it’s hard to make the detective an interesting character if he acts as though he was born in a box, knowing nothing more than the facts presented the narrative. You have to include some of his outside life—and even the most diligent of fair-play authors expect that the reader will be able to make some connections between the facts presented without needing everything spelled out. A good fair-play mystery needs to be a balancing act between the story elements and the puzzle. The puzzle is what makes it a mystery—but without the story, you might as well be putting together a jigsaw.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

My detective, Patrick Riley, is a real estate agent who specializes in houses with mysterious pasts. His major strength and weakness are the same: isolation, and a tendency to be intellectual rather than emotional when relating to other people. He has a face that never shows any expression whatsoever, to the point where people have questioned if he’s even human. That can make it hard for him to connect to people sometimes, but it also gives him the ability to bluff when he needs to.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

The best setting for a mystery, I believe, is a very old place. Old houses, old churches or hotels, even old-growth forests. Not only do old places have secrets, which can make for excellent additions to a modern crime, but there’s something about being in a setting where potentially dozens or even hundreds of mysteries might have taken place over the years that adds to the significance of this one. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great mysteries that take place in modern suburbs, but I feel like an old setting adds to the weight of a mystery.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been? 

It may be cliche, but the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, the home of Sarah Winchester, widow of the treasurer of the Winchester rifle company. It’s a tourist attraction now, admittedly, but the combination of the strange architecture of the house as well as the stories about Sarah herself, make the house into the sort of place that could inspire several hundred mysteries.

What was the last mystery you read?

The Gladstone Bag by Charlotte MacLeod. I’ve just recently discovered MacLeod, an author from the late twentieth century, and I’ve been working my way through her Sarah Kelling mysteries, as well as looking for her other stories.

What are you working on now?

Currently I’m taking a break from mystery and working on publishing the next urban fantasy novel in my Seelie Court series, To Dream Alone. The story features a sheriff’s deputy investigating the disappearance of several children and discovering a connection between those disappearances and another series that happened at the tail-end of the Old West era.

Where can we find you online?

The best place to get information on my writing, as well as whatever else goes through my head, is at my substack, https://zmrenick.substack.com/ You can also follow me on X under my other penname, @ArianneTillay.

Cover Reveal: The Fifth Black Beacon Book of Mystery

The case has been cracked! We've located Malgorzata Mika's cover for The Fifth Black Beacon Book of Mystery. This art is inspired by the Lena Lombardi story "Keepers Weepers", which Edward Lodi will be contributing to the anthology. Feel free to send Malgorzata a message to congratulate her on the wonderful work.

A NOTE TO AUTHORS: The submissions window will be open in January and February, so visit our submissions page and follow the guidelines carefully, and then get writing!

In the meantime, Mystery Hounds, don't forget to pre-order your Kindle copy of the fourth volume today. It will be out for Kindle and in print on the 23rd of November.

Getting Mysterious with Robb T. White

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Robb,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I’m fascinated by the motives for crime that spin off on the homicide cop’s Big Three: Sex, Greed, and Revenge.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

I’m not much of a traditional kind of whodunit writer—more a whydunit type. As far as the tension goes in solving the crime, the one ingredient I worry most about is the planting of false leads in my detective’s head naturally so that he (or she, if it’s a Jade Hui story) would logically think that way or follow that track.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Tom Haftmann, Raimo Jarvi, and Jade all have an excess of cynicism. None is idealistic or believes in the goodness of humanity. Haftman thinks he’s a "controlled" alcoholic; Jarvi’s an isolato owing to childhood scars, and Jade expects every male she encounters to be an overbearing shithead.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

I’m partial to squalor: rust-belt towns like the one I’m living in and grew up in. Abandoned factories and weed-strewn lots have an attractive appeal. A close second is a seedy resort town favored by bikers and outlaw scum.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

Xi’an, China’s ancient capital city and site of the terracotta warriors.

What was the last mystery you read?

Hotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz Smith (the final Arkady Renko novel).

What are you working on now?

Completing revisions for a crime novel scheduled for this autumn, The Heist on Johnnycake Road.

Where can we find you online?

Website of Thomas Haftmann, https//:tomhaftmann.wixsite.com/robbtwhite

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Mike Adamson

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Mike,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

Years ago I considered mystery too strictly forumulated—and too complex—for me, but I found my way into the field via the occult and fantastic (my first mysteries were Inspector Trevelyan stories, and it was via a crossover that I entered the world of Sherlock Holmes). Having discovered how to spin a mystery in the supernatural context, I found it followed naturally to drop out the supernatural material and pursue entrely mundane themes. The drama remained, and the pleasure in putting the details together was just as great, so I found myself a mysyery writer almost accidentally!

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

I guess the trick in playing by the rules—providing all the information to the audience so they can work it out themselves, as opposed to springing some new bit of information on them close to the end that allows the detective to solve it in the last act (which can be an irritating device!)—is to underplay the clues at a narrative level. Not ‘hang a lamp on it’ as they say in Hollywood, but provide the information in a subtle way: let the clues blur into the background somewhat, so only the sharp-eyed and keen-minded will register them and slot them into place. After all, the reader matches wits with the detective—you can’t make it too easy or the thrill is lost, but you also can’t make it impossibly hard or the reader stands no chance. To this day, I confess I can hardly follow the workings of the mind of August Dupin, for instance.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

These qualities are self-evident in Sherlock Holmes—the whole world knows him and them! But Inspector Trevelyan is another matter. There are the immediate ‘character identifiers’ such as the fact it was his right knee that was injured in the Whitechapel Riots, and that it’ll never heal fully, thus the walking stick—but it must be in his right hand, so in many a tight spot he uses a revolver left-handed. There’s his ability to accept the supernatural, while retaining a rational objectivity that allows him to debunk a fraud on sight. Weaknesses? I don’t believe I’ve explored that dimension to his character yet—I must do so! Bad habits: he smokes, as everyone did in those days, and enjoys a drink, but also controls his old wound without recourse to drugs, so that would count as a strength of character.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

I’m always drawn to the Autumn of the year! My stories are usually set in England, and I visited on five occasions for university conferences which took place in November—so I’m most familiar with England at that time of year, Halloween and after. The falling leaves, the chill, the shortening days—they go so well with a grim or unsettling mood, as surely for mystery as for horror. Old ruins, castles and priories, time-worn country mansions, or seaports with centuries of history, are all wonderful settings for cases.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

Dracula’s old haunt of Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast, for one. Stonehenge and Avebury, for their ancient and cosmological connections.

What was the last mystery you read?

Ongoing Sherlock Holmes tales in the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

What’s one type of mystery you’ve been meaning to write but haven’t got around to yet—locked room, closed circle, police procedural, cold case, historical mystery, art theft?

I guess art theft would be the one—I seem to have touched down on the other formulas at some time. And I have a particular real-life case in mind! That’s one for Holmes, I think...

What are you working on now?

At time of writing, I’ve completed my third Sherlock Holmes novel for Belanger Books. Next up are short stories for open venues, including both Holmes and Trevelyan, and I'll soon write the first stand-alone story for my Venetian contessa detective character. On next year’s agenda will be my first Inspector Trevelyan novel!

Where can we find you online?

Check out my flagship website, The Worlds of Mike Adamson at https://dream-craft.com/mikeadamson/

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with DJ Tyrer

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi DJ,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I love to get at the truth, at how things really fit together. This is why, in real life, I’m interested in genealogy and history, finding links in a family tree or trying to uncover what really happened in the past and why, following tangent after tangent, crossing off dead-ends, until finally things link up and understanding dawns. It’s only a small step from that to being intrigued by fictional mysteries and constructing my own. And, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that many of the mysteries I’ve written have real-life historical elements in them.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

At every step, the reader should have the same information that the protagonist has and, thus, the same chance to solve the mystery as them. There’s nothing worse than a serious mystery that pulls out a clue or suspect at the last minute that has never been mentioned before. It might not always be possible to solve a mystery before you get near to the end, but you should be able to narrow down the suspects and have ideas of the means and motive before you get there, and never feel that the author has been stringing you along and the case was actually solved pages ago without you being told or completely impossible to solve until the reveal.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

My story features Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, and, like most canonical tales, is told from the perspective of Watson. Although not on a par with Holmes (who is?), Watson isn’t the duffer too many film and TV pastiches and, especially, parodies make him out to be, but is a competent investigator with his own set of skills. Why else would Holmes bring him along? In The Peculiar Case of the Toad in the Hole, Watson is not only the catalyst who brings Holmes into the story, but his medical skills make him the key to unravelling the mystery. Although he doesn’t see himself as equal to the role of investigator, calling on his friend for help, it is only by the two of them working together that they can actually uncover the truth.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

Although I’ve written mysteries set in the present day, and in other times and places, including fantasy, the majority of them have featured Sherlock Holmes. Not only does that mean I can build upon what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, but I frequently draw upon history for ideas and elements. Victorian England is similar enough to the modern UK that you don’t have to keep stopping to explain every little thing to the reader, but different enough that it can facilitate the crafting of mysteries that wouldn’t work in a modern setting.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you; some things are not meant for public knowledge. On a serious note, I’ve been to a few old buildings with peculiar nooks and crannies and hidden cupboards that were fascinating to explore and see what could be discovered.

What was the last mystery you read?

Although the mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are not the only ones I read, I think the last mystery stories I read were some in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes when I was researching to write a story for Beyond the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes for Belanger Books. (I wrote and had accepted a sequel to The Adventure of the Reigate Squire.) Even when it’s not an absolute necessity, as it was there, to reread the Holmes stories, I always return to them when writing a new mystery featuring the Great Detective in order to keep the voice of Watson as fresh as I can.

What’s one type of mystery you’ve been meaning to write but haven’t got around to yet—locked room, closed circle, police procedural, cold case, historical mystery, art theft?

I’ve written quite a number of different types of mystery (although not a cold case, so that might be one for me to attempt in the future!), but they’ve all been short stories, so it’s not a type of mystery per se that I want to tackle, but a length; a novel. I would like to develop a mystery and its investigation to novel length to allow the extra depth and complexity that the form allows. I do have a couple of ideas I’ve been toying with, so maybe one day…

What are you working on now?

I am planning some more Holmes stories, but, at the moment, I’m especially focused on a series, or rather multiple related series, of short fantasy mystery stories, mixing regular investigative skills with magic, monsters, and other strangeness, in particular working to develop the setting to ensure consistency. Several have been published, a few more are written but, as yet, unpublished, and many more are waiting to be written.

Where can we find you online?

My website lurks at https://djtyrer.blogspot.com/ and has announcements of new and forthcoming appearances of my writing. In addition to publication credits, the site has lists of stories by recurring character, including Sherlock Holmes, and other information and links that might be of interest.

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Jon Matthew Farber

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Jon,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I enjoy puzzles. I’m an avid bridge and chess player, and my favourite mysteries are fair-play ones, where I can piece the clues together and solve the case. That having been said, I also appreciate well-constructed stories where I’m unsuccessful at matching the detective’s skill.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

First off, the murder must be plausible. For example, if needed, I can accept the murderer using a very powerful magnet, as long as the groundwork is laid out for it in in the story. However, if the magnet is in the murderer’s shoe... Second, I don’t want what I call Watson clues. These are clues so obvious that even Watson could figure them out. An example of one I came across is the following. The murderer had to break a window in order to commit their crime. The next day, one of the suspects is described as having multiple bandages on their hand, as if they had cut it on glass. Third, the clue must be well hidden, but solvable without arcane knowledge. If a victim leaves a dying message of a word which appears to be in English but leads nowhere, because it is actually Latin, that’s unfair because most of us aren’t fluent in the language. However, if we have been previously told that the victim was a professor of Latin, then I feel the reader can take full credit for remembering and using that fact. Indeed, nowadays, one can take extra credit by then going on the Internet to look up the translation (this is not cheating), and then using that information to reach the ultimate solution.

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Professor Simon has been seen multiple times, including in The Third Black Beacon Book of Mystery. His strength is obviously his intelligence. In the short story format, there isn’t much time to deal with weaknesses or bad habits, so I haven’t done that yet, but this could be interesting to explore in the future. Hubris would be an obvious weakness, but trite; I’m more intrigued by a case he misses solving (at first) because of overthinking. One quirk of his is that he delivers formal lectures, including dropping most contractions, when he summarizes a case. Another, not exactly a quirk, is something he would probably not like to admit to himself, as it isn’t congruent with his self-view as a man of logic. He enjoys acting, often carrying out improvisational roles to entice confessions from killers, as he does in the upcoming anthology.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

I focus more on the concept of mystery as a puzzle, rather than something spooky or scary. As such, I’m very fond of locked rooms / impossible crimes.

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

The Winchester Mystery House in California. This has hundreds of rooms (not all accessible on the tour), with numerous curiosities, and is an architectural mish-mash.

What was the last mystery you read?

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman. Unlike the other books in the Thursday Murder Club Series, this was not a solvable whodunit. However, the plot, while contrived, was acceptable, the pacing excellent and never lagging, it was sprinkled with humour, and the characters are very well drawn. I am very fond of this series and recommend it highly.

What’s one type of mystery you’ve been meaning to write but haven’t got around to

yet—locked room, closed circle, police procedural, cold case, historical mystery, art theft?

As I assume is true for many authors, I would like to write a Holmes story (but see below). I did write a parody in the now defunct Mystery Magazine, but I don’t count that.

What are you working on now?

Actually, nothing. Apart from my fair-play mystery novel Do Not Resuscitate (co-written with Danieal Reinharth), I only write short stories, around three per year. When an idea for a story strikes me, I work it out in my head for a few days, then jot down a first draft. After that, it goes into hibernation until I feel ready to edit it. At the present time, I have three such stories; two are Professor Simon dying message ones (as in the upcoming anthology) which may show up in future Black Beacon Books titles, and the other is the Holmes story hinted at above.

Where can we find you online?

You can’t. I don’t have a personal web page. You could find some of my older medical blogs at allpediatrics.com, and another Professor Simon story at https://theyardcrimeblog.com/2025/12/04/piece-offering-mystery-fiction/

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Cameron Trost

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Cameron,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

I love everything about a great mystery, from the evocative setting and quirky characters to the thickening plot and underlying themes. What really gets the cogs turning, however, is the puzzle. A real mystery that needs to be solved is what makes me tick. If I feel I'm competing with (or even better, working with!) the protagonist, and I can tell the author has carefully placed the pieces of the puzzle within his prose, we're looking at five-star mystery fiction.  

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

Unlike the plot of a gripping mystery, there are no secrets here. The essential ingredients are a) a mystery or puzzle to solve b) a believable cast of characters... and "believable" doesn't mean we can't have an eccentric or two c) clues and red herrings appropriately scattered throughout d) foreshadowing and e) the reveal in the last (or second last) chapter or scene. A fair-play mystery requires all the crucial elements required to crack the case to be referred to at least once before the final unravelling.  

What are your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, trademark quirks, and bad habits?

Oscar Tremont is a man with a conscious and a keen intellect, and those two traits are both arguably strengths or weaknesses according to who you ask. He can rub some people up the wrong way, whether they be officers of the law or his wife, and he has long been struggling with (and sometimes giving in to) the temptation to illegally enter premises in order to solve a crime. He is a charming and well-travelled man of culture, who is fascinated by the history and folklore of Brittany, the land that adopted him. Other trademarks include his flat cap, cherry red Doc Martens, black Peugeot 403 - in better condition than Columbo's, and his moustache-twitching grin. 

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

As anyone who has already read my Oscar Tremont mysteries knows, my protagonist followed me from Australia to Brittany, and this is apparent in my writing. Give me misty marshland, a lighthouse during a wild storm, or castle ruins on the night of the full moon and I'll give you a chilling mystery. Oscar does travel elsewhere from time to time, but Brittany holds more than enough mystery for him.  

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

I wouldn't know where to start. I've been inside Neolithic burial chambers, wandered castle ruins, explored Roman catacombs, got lost in enchanted forests. I've visited 221b Baker Street and walked the streets Jack the Ripper once roamed. I've even glimpsed Count Orlok at the Nosferatu window. So, if I had to choose one... Oh, I really can't... Wait! Well, there's Loch Ness, in the middle of the wild and eerie Scottish Highlands. Did I see the monster break the surface of the cold water from my vantage point at Urquhart Castle? I will leave that a mystery for you to ponder. 

What was the last mystery you read?

I've just finished Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout. I figured it was about time I got around to reading a Nero Wolfe novel. Archie and Nero are great characters, and I really enjoyed Stout's writing style, with prose that ranges from eloquent and intellectual to punchy and comical. I was, however, not particularly impressed by the mystery itself. I was expecting more of a fair-play puzzle, à la John Dickson Carr, but the identity of the culprit was obvious from very early in the novel, and despite an elaborate (and not particularly believable) means of committing the murder of Peter Oliver Barstow, there were few pieces to puzzle. An enjoyable read with likeable characters but not an accomplished mystery.  

What are you working on now?

I'm working on an Oscar Tremont mystery set in Asia for a short story anthology, a spooky short story set in a lighthouse, and the second Oscar Tremont novel is in the works.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me pretty much everywhere online. My website is at https://camerontrost.com and I keep a complete list of social media links at: https://linktr.ee/camerontrost

Thanks for playing along!

Getting Mysterious with Edward Lodi

The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 23rd of November, but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and the Goodreads listing is up. To get you in the mood for mystery, we’ve interviewed our contributing authors. Are you keen to peer into their minds—a complex world of clues, red herrings, and puzzling plots? This volume of mysteries will be as challenging as ever, but our cast of amateur sleuths, private investigators, and police inspectors will leave no stone unturned!

Hi Edward,

What is it about the genre of mystery that gets the cogs turning in your head?

Depends on the sub genre. They’re all fun in their own way. A “locked room” or “impossible crime” offers a particular challenge. Can I think of something fiendishly clever which is also fair to the reader? An historical mystery may require considerable research, but offers an opportunity to learn something new.

What ingredients are needed for a great fair-play mystery in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed?

First, a crime that contains a puzzle, whether it’s whodunit, howdunit, whydunit, etc. Suspects with plausible motives. Clues that are not obvious but nonetheless fairly presented. Red herrings that appear to be actual clues but are not. A credible detective.

A great mystery needs a killer plot and likeable—or despicable—characters, but setting and atmosphere are also key. What are your favourite settings for a really mysterious atmosphere?

A cemetery at night. An old, dark house. A cranberry bog (see below).

What’s the most mysterious place you’ve ever been?

A cranberry bog in the dead of night far from the nearest habitation. When I was young, I worked for a cranberry company in Southeastern Massachusetts. In the spring, and again in the fall, when frost threatened to damage the vines or the berries, I often had to spend the night alone checking thermometers, and starting irrigation systems if necessary. The bogs were often accessed by rutted dirt roads cut through the swamps that surrounded the bogs. I’d have to periodically get out of my pickup and jump across ditches to read the thermometers set among the vines. An isolated cranberry bog in the wee hours is a truly spooky place. Weird sounds issue from the swamp—owls hooting, screeches of small creatures falling prey to predators, coyotes yodeling, and worst of all, unidentifiable sounds worthy of the sound track of a horror movie.

What are you working on now?

A Sherlock Holmes pastiche.

Thanks for playing along!