The newspaper can be a gold mine for mystery writers. Whenever you’re looking for a motive or a dirty secret for one of your characters, turn to the Local page and scan the headlines. Cut out articles of intriguing or bizarre crimes and put them into a mystery research folder for later reference. This is where I go when I need a secret for one of my suspects. I’ll pore through the clippings until I find what I want.

Here’s a sampling of several headlines from the Sun-Sentinel just for one day:

Boca man charged in Ponzi scheme

Accused dognapper, still missing, will be charged with grand theft

Camp director arrested on counterfeit check charge

Man arrested, accused of exploiting elderly woman

Ex-teacher pleads no contest to charges of sex with girl, 16

Tuition fees spurred theft

Attorney General sues literary agency in Boca

Man sues surgeon over harm to penis [Yes, you read it right.]

And here’s one that could be applied to my cruise mystery, Killer Knots:

Cruise ship plucks man from ocean

Not counting the last one, that’s eight articles in the local section of the newspaper just for one day. What a gold mine! Think about assigning each one of those to a suspect in a mystery. They’d have a lot of secrets to hide. Of course, I wouldn’t use all of these in one book. You have to give people some good secrets too, such as someone giving or receiving regular payments from a bank account. This would make them look suspicious, but the funds could be used to pay for a relative in a nursing home, for example. Some secrets can turn out to be good while others cover bad deeds either currently in action or from the past.

Would one of these secrets be enough to murder someone over? Sure, depending on your character. He could be a prominent politician or a respected professor hiding a dirty secret. How far he’ll go to protect himself depends on what’s at stake. Or maybe he’s not the one guarding his misdeeds, but someone who loves him and who will do anything for him not to be exposed. Like the politician’s wife, who appears sweet and compliant but doesn’t hesitate to remove anyone in her husband’s path. The possibilities are endless when you have such rich material to stimulate your imagination. So buy the daily newspaper and get out your scissors. Then start collecting the dirt for your files.

Thank you Nancy, you are VERY generous with your talents. This is a great idea.

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