"I can't think of any clever murder tricks, so I'll never write a good mystery."
Have you ever caught yourself worrying about that? Whenever I struggle with my own writing, I feel like yelling that nobody can casually invent ground-breaking tricks on demand.
Fortunately, you don't need to. Even Agatha Christie, the undisputed Queen of Mystery, didn't always start her stories with intricate murder gimmicks.
I previously talked about the 73 secret notebooks that powered Christie's lifelong storytelling. She famously juggled up to six notebooks simultaneously, jotting down unorganized thoughts wherever she went. Those private records were later transcribed and published as Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks.
Opening these notebooks reveals that Christie relied on two distinct creative routes:
- Trick-first plotting
- Relationship-first plotting
Inventing brilliant murder puzzles requires special inspiration, but anyone can start using the relationship-first plotting method today. Let's break down how Christie built gripping fiction purely from human dynamics.
Why Building from Human Relationships Never Fails
"Shouldn't every mystery writer decide on the murder gimmick first?"
It's easy to assume so. Yet if your characters feel flat and lifeless, even the most intricate puzzle becomes boring to read.
Christie's true genius lay in creating rich, believable characters that readers recognized instantly. Whenever people gather in a single space, desires, grudges, jealousy, and secrets inevitably bubble to the surface.
Crimes don't create human relationships. Simmering relationships trigger crimes. Keeping that exact order in mind is the true foundation of compelling storytelling.
Step 1: Create a List of 10 Potential Suspects
"Where should you actually begin?"
Christie started by scribbling a roster of roughly ten characters in her notebook without picking a culprit. She mapped out the basic attributes of everyone present in one setting:
- A wealthy, stubborn matriarch
- An unemployed nephew eyeing an inheritance
- A young, seemingly loyal maid
- A physician harboring a dark secret
- An outspoken, meddlesome relative
Next, she drew a web of connections linking them together. Who loves whom? Who owes money to whom? Who holds a bitter grudge against whom?
Connecting these ten figures with directional arrows instantly fills the room with suspense. This web of human tension forms the real bedrock of your narrative.
Step 2: Decide Who Would Be Most Interesting to Kill
"Once the cast is ready, what comes next?"
Next, you choose the victim. Christie's approach was razor-sharp: she picked someone whose death either threw everyone into chaos or gave every single person a motive to kill.
When a widely despised tycoon dies, all ten characters immediately become viable suspects. That single choice kicks off intense suspense.
In her notebooks, Christie balanced five core elements:
- Method of murder
- The killer
- Motive
- Other suspects
- Clues and red herrings
Moving back and forth between these pieces allowed her to construct an airtight plot without getting stuck.
The Ultimate Secret: She Didn't Fix the Killer at the Start
"Shouldn't you lock down the killer before writing chapter one?"
Most writers assume that's mandatory, but Christie's notebooks reveal a startling reality. In many of her greatest works, she began drafting without fixing the murderer at all!
Her notebooks contain dozens of conflicting theories jotted side by side:
- "A is the killer, driven by the inheritance."
- "No, B and C conspired together for revenge."
- "What if the most harmless-looking character, D, did it?"
She swapped the culprit repeatedly on the page until she found the combination that exploited the reader's blind spot. Because she never locked the culprit in advance, every character looked genuinely suspicious, creating legendary plot twists.
Start Your Own Character Observation Notebook
You don't need to craft an elaborate puzzle on day one. Look around at people in a cafe, your office, or a family gathering:
- List ten distinct individuals
- Draw arrows showing their underlying tensions
- Imagine who is hiding the deepest secret
Observing human behavior gives you all the raw material you need to build unforgettable fiction. Open a blank notebook and start sketching your first ten characters today.