Writing the Small Town Mystery Series

Every one one of my Murder by Month mysteries is set in Battle Lake, Minnesota. Every one. How, you ask, can so many murders happen in a town with less than 1000 citizens? It's not easy, but I'm going to tell you how it's done:

1. Kill off a lot of tourists.

Ha ha! OK, seriously.

1. Make the characters believable and memorable.

This is the key to any good book. It's especially important in a mystery series where you want readers to keep coming back. Every single character has to be fleshed out, and they have to have their quirks. Mira, the protagonist in the Murder by Month Mysteries, has a dark past and an uncertain future. You've met her before--she's the smart chick who's had a lot of hard knocks but keeps her spirit and humor intact, the one you're rooting for in the end. Battle Lake as I write it also has a lot of over the top characters--Kennie, the aged beauty queen who dresses like she's still 17; Mrs. Berns, the geriatric firecracker with a heart of gold and loins of steel; Johnny Leeson, the hot horticulturalist who makes Mira's green thumb throb. Each character has to stick in the brain of the reader and be interesting enough to keep them coming back to visit. Check out anything by William Kent Krueger to see an example of fantastic character development in a small town mystery.

2. Make the setting real and familiar.

The attraction of a mystery series is the comfort it provides--you know the place, you know the characters, and you know you're in good hands. You can forget about the world for a while and let someone else drive your brain. A three-dimensional setting with lots of sensory detail plays an important role in providing that comfort. The small town has to be described so clearly without overshadowing the plot that the reader can smell the trees, see the water, and visit the houses. When they pick up your book, they have to feel like they're being invited back to someplace familiar where it's never boring and they're in on the biggest secret of all.

3. Keep the graphic violence outside of the borders.

Personally, I'm not a fan of graphic violence, so #3 might have a lot to do with personal preference. It seems to me, though, that serial killers and slashers have a short lifespan in a small town. The violence would get old quickly, and disbelief would set in. How come so many horrific crimes happen in this small town? Plus, if your small town mystery series is well-written, your reader cares about the characters and wants to feel welcome in the town. An author can't violently kill off too many of those favorites without alienating her reader and making them feel unsafe when they visit. Cruel death makes everyone uncomfortable, sooner or later. Funny death, well that's a whole nother animal. Funny death, quirky death, and necessary death all work great in a small town mystery. Just ask Jessica Fletcher.

4. Keep the mystery creative.

The tag line for my mystery series--Murder by Month--is a little misleading as each novel will not necessarily have a murder as the central mystery. May Day does have a dead body, right off the bat, as a matter of fact. June Bug has missing jewels (and maybe a couple dead bodies, but they're funny and really, really dead), Knee High by July centers around something VERY important to Mira that is stolen (and I'm not telling about any bodies except to say someone loses part of theirs, and that someone isn't Mira), August Moon has a seedy minister taking up shop in the Bible camp (for sure there's gotta be a dead body), and...you get the idea. Solving a murder can get old quickly, but solving a mystery, well shoot. That's fun for months and months and months.

5. Pump up the backstory.

The best thing about small towns is also the worst--everyone knows your business. Play that up in the small town mystery to get some good sub-plots going and to toss out a few smelly red herrings. Who doesn't love gossip and secrets when they're about other people?

5 1/2. Borrow from the romance and chick lit genres.

I heart the mystery genre, but just ask Janet Evanovich how adding a little lust and humor can take it to the next level. Technically, a small town mystery/cozy shouldn't have lots of sex, but come on. What else is there to do in the winter in Battle Lake, Minnesota? I hear big-city people think those little houses on the icy lake are for fishing...

And there you go. Five easy steps to writing the small town mystery series. Make your characters strong, real, and entertaining, create a setting that is familiar and welcoming, don't overdo the violence, keep the central mystery creative, work the backstory, and add a cup or two of sex and humor. Viola!