5 Tips for Writing the Humorous Mystery
Look at Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series that begins with One for the Money, a tale of that mixes humor, bounty hunting, wise guys and New Jersey into a cocktail that explodes over the pages that even made it to the big screen.
The series is now up to book twenty-six.
Author Jana De Leon has become a powerhouse in the self-publishing world with her Miss Fortune series in which a female CIA assassin is forced to go into hiding in a small Louisiana bayou town.
When her dog digs up a human bone, she’s swamp-deep in intrigue.
Louisiana Longshot is book one and ranks #12 in the Amazon Kindle store.
Another writer who excels in weaving mysteries with a large dash of humor is Christie Craig.
Her Hotter in Texas series, beginning with Only in Texas, keeps you laughing and guessing whodunit from start to finish.
Any of her mysteries will lighten up an afternoon or evening.
So how do these authors do it?
What is the secret to writing a humorous mystery?
You need some humorous elements, of course.
Here are 5 possibilities.
1. The Screwball Heroine
We’re talking I Love Lucy.
Anything that can possibly go wrong in this person’s laugh will go wrong.
But, because she is constantly trying to meet the expectations of others, she digs the hole deeper for herself.
She doesn’t know when to call it quits.
It’s this doggedness, however, that sees her to the end of the mystery and results in the bad guys getting caught.
2. Wacky Secondary Characters
Sometimes your heroine may seem like the only sane one in the bunch.
She’s determined to behave normally, but it’s almost a lost cause when she’s surrounded by eccentric characters who appear set on creating as much trouble for your main character as possible.
Make these secondary characters larger than life.
Give them a quirk that easily identifies them and use that odd behavior to create pandemonium for your main character.
3. The Snowball Effect
This is when events seem out of control.
It can be the catalyst for your story as in book 1 when Miss Fortune has to go into hiding because “a situation got out of hand.”
Of course, the problem is she keeps on attracting other “situations.”
As soon as your character settles down and feels like she has matters under control, toss another snowball at her and let it roll over everyone and everything in its path.
4. Whatever Can Go Wrong, Make It a Hundred Times Worse
Your characters will always have a plan.
Anything and everything that can go wrong, should.
I Love Lucy is full of episodes where Lucy had a brilliant idea that somehow never works the way she expects.
One of your wacky characters can screw things up.
Equipment can fail or your main character goes off script and that derails everything
Even if it all falls apart, your character can still get the information or obtain the object, but she will leave chaos in her wake.
5. Snappy Dialogue and Word Choice
Dialogue that zings is the hallmark of the humorous mystery.
Banter between characters, dialogue in which one character is out of the “know,” but suspects the others of being up to something, or even confrontational dialogue are all places where humor can shine.
Moreover, as opposed to the TV screen where visual slapstick can aid in creating laughs, in the written form, it’s up to the author to think carefully about word choice and pacing of the scene to get the most laughs.
Before you attempt to write a humorous mystery, do some research.
A good place to start is by reading the books I listed above, as well as other humorous mystery authors.
A search in Amazon for mystery/suspense, then humor, will get you a long list.
It might not be easy to write humor, but done well, it will gain you a fan base and put a lot of smiles on your readers’ faces.
About Zia Westfield
Zia Westfield (www.ziawestfield.com) has a penchant for the quirky and the zany, qualities that often show up in her paranormal romantic suspense stories. Her contemporary romantic suspense stories follow a more traditional path, but there’s always room for a dose of humor or a little snark.
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