What Clues And Red Herrings Should A Mystery Suspense Story Include?

Question

For my new noir thriller, figuring out which clues should mislead readers versus reveal the killer feels tricky. Any classic tropes from Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes stories that balance suspense?

RobThomas · Answer

Don't underestimate the value of a sympathetic red herring. The character who seems guilty might be trying to take the blame for someone they love—a parent for a child, a sibling for a sibling. This creates wonderful emotional complexity. The detective must see through the false confession not just to find the truth, but to prevent an injustice.

Clues should have a cost. The detective doesn't just find a bloody glove; they have to bypass a guard dog, or call in a favor from a corrupt official, or misinterpret the clue initially and pursue a bad lead. The process of obtaining and interpreting the clue is part of the story's tension.

Also, consider the 'anti-clue'—something whose absence is the real signal. The dog that didn't bark. The item not stolen from a ransacked room. The person who didn't show up to a routine meeting. These require the detective (and an observant reader) to notice what should be there but isn't, which is a higher level of deduction than just cataloging what is present.

IvanMeyer · Answer

Red herrings that actually serve a thematic purpose are the best. For instance, a character who seems suspiciously wealthy might just be a thematic foil to the true culprit's motive of financial desperation, rather than a fake-out suspect. The audience feels cheated if the red herring is just a random lie; it should deepen the world or character understanding even as it misdirects.

Planting clues in plain sight works wonders. Something mentioned in casual dialogue in chapter two, presented as mundane background detail, should click horribly into place during the finale. The satisfaction comes from the reader realizing they were shown the truth but didn't recognize its significance. Physical objects are great for this—a misplaced book, a repeated meal order, a specific brand of cigarette.

Avoid the trap of making your detective conveniently 'notice' things the narrative never showed the reader. That's lazy. The game is fair if all the pieces are on the table, just assembled wrongly by both protagonist and audience. The final reveal should feel both surprising and inevitable, a puzzle piece snapping into a spot you didn't know was empty.

RenPeters · Answer

Misdirection works best when it's psychologically plausible. A red herring shouldn't just be a random stranger acting shady; it should tie into a character's believable desire to hide something unrelated. The janitor lurking isn't the killer—he's stealing office supplies. The clue is his presence, but the reason for it is a mundane secret, which the detective (and reader) mistake for guilt.

For clues, think 'Chekhov's Gun' but with memory. If you show a gun in Act One, it should go off. But in a mystery, you might show a gun, a knife, and a bottle of poison. The gun is the red herring everyone focuses on. The knife is forgotten. The poison is the real weapon, but it was introduced as part of a completely different scene about the victim's medicine cabinet.

Physical timelines and alibis are classic for a reason. A working clock stopped by a power surge, a missed phone call due to bad signal, a witness who misremembers the time because they were engrossed in a TV show—these create solid, tangible puzzles. The detective's job is to cross-reference these mundane details to find the inconsistency that cracks everything open.

TylerLee · Answer

A red herring can be an entire subplot. A secondary mystery—a theft, a blackmail scheme, a missing document—that seems connected to the murder but ultimately isn't. It consumes time and resources, and its resolution provides a false sense of closure before the real murder plot resurfaces. This works best if the subplot's resolution ties thematically to the main crime, perhaps highlighting a different facet of human greed or fear.

Clues should be tiered. The surface clue points to a fact (Person X was at the scene). The second-tier clue reveals why that fact is misleading (They were there for Reason Y, not murder). The third-tier clue, built from combining the first two with other data, reveals the truth (Their presence for Reason Y allowed them to see the real culprit, which is why they're now acting scared).

Never underestimate the power of a mundane schedule. Alibis based on train timetables, TV show broadcast times, or church service lengths are classic because they're tangible. The clue is often a tiny disruption to that schedule—a delayed train, a power outage during the show, a priest with a cold who cut the service short—that creates a window of opportunity only the culprit could have used.

JackSky · Answer

I love when a red herring is a piece of folklore or local superstition that seems to explain the murders. The community gets swept up in tales of a vengeful spirit, which allows the very human killer to operate in the open. The real clue is the one person who doesn't believe in the legend.

WestonBee · Answer

A red herring that's an homage to another famous mystery. A Christie-style poisoning in a locked room, when the real method is something completely different and modern. It's a nod to fans that also serves as a smokescreen.

JackSun · Answer

Red herrings should make the reader feel clever for suspecting them, then a little foolish when the truth comes out. I love when a story lays out a suspect with means and motive so obvious you're sure it's a misdirect... and then it turns out they did do it, but for a reason you never imagined.

WarmPath · Answer

The best misdirection plays on the reader's own expectations and biases. If you introduce a character who's rude, wealthy, and politically connected, the reader immediately suspects them. A clever writer might use that bias as a double-bluff, making that character the obvious red herring so the reader feels smart for doubting them... only to reveal a twist where they were actually involved in a different, unforeseen way.

Clues can be auditory or olfactory, not just visual. A character mentions a strange, sweet smell at the scene that nobody else noted. Later, we learn a specific chemical used in the crime has that odor. Or the constant, overlooked sound of a dripping tap that masks the sound of a footstep.

Timing is everything with clue placement. Drop a crucial piece of information right after a high-action sequence or a big emotional reveal. The reader is breathless or reeling, and the clue slips in almost unnoticed. It feels organic, not like the author is holding up a sign. The recap later, when that clue becomes central, is immensely satisfying.

HappySpot · Answer

Physical evidence that's almost too perfect. A monogrammed cigarette case found at the scene that leads you down a rabbit hole, only to discover the victim picked it up by accident earlier that day. The trick is making the false clue feel organic, not planted.

TomDuncan · Answer

I'm just thinking about that one mystery where the red herring was so good I threw my book. In a good way! It's a rare skill to mislead fairly and brilliantly.

EzraRyan · Answer

Clues in plain sight through repetition. A minor detail mentioned three times in different contexts—a song on the radio, a book title on a shelf, a color of a dress—that seems like thematic flavor until it clicks into place as a crucial piece of the puzzle. It feels earned.

MyBooks · Answer

I think the most satisfying clues are the ones that reframe everything. You spend chapters looking at the evidence one way, and then a single small detail—a phrase in a letter, the way a door swings, the absence of a common object—flips the entire narrative on its head. The earlier chapters become a different story in retrospect.

Red herrings should hurt a little. The detective should believe in them, and their failure should have consequences—a suspect harmed, a real lead gone cold, the detective's confidence shaken. This makes the eventual solution a triumph of perseverance, not just intellect.

Also, don't make the culprit the only person who benefits. That's too simple. Several people might benefit from the victim's death, creating a forest of motives. The real culprit might have the least obvious, most personal benefit—not money, but silence; not power, but peace. Untangling the 'why' from the 'who' is where the real mystery often lies.

MaryCase · Answer

Pay attention to the order of discovery. The first 'clue' found should almost certainly be a red herring, or at least partially misleading. It sets the initial trajectory of the investigation. The second and third clues might reinforce that false trajectory. The real, breaking clue should come later, often when the investigation is stuck, and it should re-contextualize the earlier evidence.

Character relationships are fertile ground. A red herring can be a seemingly toxic relationship that suggests motive, when in reality, the toxic relationship is a distraction from a quieter, more dangerous connection. A genuine clue might be an unexpectedly tender moment between two characters who are supposed to be estranged, hinting at a hidden alliance.

Don't neglect the setting as a source of clues. A locked-room mystery's clue is often in the architecture—a hidden vent, a movable panel, a trick of perspective. The red herring is the seemingly impossible nature of the crime itself, forcing the detective to consider supernatural or fantastical solutions before finding the mechanical, human truth.

AudreyFan · Answer

The culprit using the detective's own methods against them. If the detective is known for profiling, the killer leaves evidence to match a false profile. It becomes a battle of wits where the red herrings are personalized traps.

WestonLee · Answer

The timing of the crime itself is a clue. Why then? Why on that specific day, at that specific hour? The answer often lies in an event—a shift change, a scheduled delivery, a weekly phone call, an astronomical event like high tide or a full moon. The red herring might be a more dramatic but false reason for the timing (an anniversary, a public event), distracting from the practical, logistical reason the killer needed.

Cultural or social clues require the detective (and ideally the reader) to understand a subculture. A clue hidden in gaming slang, a knitting pattern, a religious ritual, or financial jargon. The red herring might be a superficial understanding of that culture that points to the wrong person. This rewards readers with that knowledge and educates those without.

Finally, the clue that seems like a coincidence but isn't. Two characters sharing a rare birthday might seem like a meaningless quirk (red herring), but it might be the clue to a hidden familial connection that explains the entire motive. The writer's job is to make the coincidence feel organic early on, and then later reveal the causal link that transforms it from chance to design.

LaneCole · Answer

I'm just sitting here nodding along. Some of these are giving me ideas for my D&D campaign, not gonna lie. Mystery plots are so transferable.

What Clues And Red Herrings Should A Mystery Suspense Story Include?

16 回答

関連書籍

Who's the Real Detective Here?

The Detective Tag

Esmerelda Sleuth: The Magic Box (Book 2)

Mysterious Disappearances

The Mysterious Disappearance

Two sides of a coin; my suspect is my undoing.

関連質問

How do mystery and thriller stories use clues and red herrings?

How do best selling suspense mystery books balance clues and red herrings?

How are red herrings used effectively in a mystery suspense novel?

How do you create red herring clues in a murder mystery story?

How do mystery thrillers balance clues and red herrings in plots?

How should a murder mystery novel build clues and red herrings?

How do mystery thrillers balance clues, red herrings, and reveals?

How do mystery best sellers balance clues and red herrings?

How do best selling mystery books balance clues and red herrings?

関連する検索

Mystery Story Ideas

Ideas For A Mystery Story

Elements Of Suspense

Ideas For A Murder Mystery Story

Suspense Mystery Books

Ideas For A Detective Story

Best Suspense Mystery Books

Mystery Novels

Books With Mystery And Suspense

Good Mystery Books