I know that's an extremely vague title, but, I'm just such a "to the point" kind of person, it's difficult for me to think of ways to stretch out a mystery to make them complex, rewarding and mysterious. Do you all have good examples of excellent mysteries draw from very simple prefaces? What is the absolute definition of a good mystery to you?
A good mystery is simply something that the readers can figure out, you have the conclusion locked away somewhere and throughout the story you give them the pieces of the key. Mystery is in subtlety, misdirection and manipulation. I find it best that when writing a mystery, it's best to start at the end, the answer; then work backwards on what clues this answer could produce and how they connect to other possible answers. Then you make the red herrings. Then you look at how you can present both the clues and the herrings. A good mystery is one that makes sense to the reader because they can finally see how all the clues connect.
I don't read a lot of misteries but I love a good mistery in other genres. I think outlining is very important and you should learn how to foreshadow and place red herrings. The reader should be able to see that he/she had all the clues to guess the resolution but didn't! Also, I think it adds value if the story is still interesting when read a second time.
I'm not the best one to ask, but how I'd go about it: First figure out exactly how and why the murderer did it. Maybe write that scene. Figure out what evidence will be findable, and how it could lead to the killer. Then figure out alternate explanations for the evidence (or the part of it they find right away) and how they could rule those out
=================== The best way is to plan it carefully. You might come up with something good if you just start writing. But are as likely to write yourself into a dead end canyon, or miss ways to make it better because you are lost in the woods trying to write your way out to the meadow when you could have been flying in a balloon above the forest where you could clearly see the path you need to take through the maze.
