Murder One: A Writer's Guide to Homicide
It's a fact of fiction: if you write any form of mystery fiction, chances are that in the end, a main character will wear a toe tag in the county morgue, at the hands of another main character. 'Murder One' will help you write a convincing crime.
Murder One: A Writer's Guide to Homicide
By Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino
Writer's Digest Books
September 1997
216 Pages, Paperback
ISBN: 089879773X
RATED:
It's a fact of fiction: if you write any form of mystery fiction, chances are that in the end, a main character will wear a toe tag in the county morgue, at the hands of another main character. The good news is the remaining dialogue for the refrigerated character should be easy to write. The bad news is that writing convincingly about the who's, why's, and how's of the murder and murderer are not so easy.
Enter Murder One: a writer's guide to homicide, by Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino. Investigators with a busy county prosecutor's office, Corvasce and Paglino have produced a guide that will have you writing about murder as if you have a skeleton or three hidden beneath your own floorboards. By the way, do you hear a heart beating? Murder One opens with an introduction to homicide, including legal principles, investigative essentials, and an entire chapter on lethal weapons. Each following chapter details a particular style of killing:
» Business and Financial Murders» Narcotics Murders
» Gang Murders
» Organized Crime Murders
» Contract Murders
» Family Murders
» Stranger and Familiar Stranger Murders
» Crime-of-Passion Murders
» Thrill or Lust Murders
» Sexual Murders
» Serial Murders
» Vehicular Murders, and
» Bizarre Murders
Each chapter carefully presents writing's basic five W's: who, what, when, where, and why. Perhaps most importantly, each covers the how of the murder, making it much less painful [insert chuckle at pun here] to write about.
Murder One: a writer's guide to homicide carries a suggested price of US$11.79 (new & used) at Amazon.com, however, it is out of print and availability is limited.
Murder One is part of The Howdunit Series published by Writer's Digest Books. Other titles in the series include:
» Malicious Intent» Modus Operandi (also by Corvasce and Paglino)
» Armed and Dangerous
» Private Eyes
» Police Procedurals
» Scene of the Crime, and
» Deadly Doses
The Bottom Line -
For anyone who writes mystery and suspense, whether for profit or pleasure, I recommend the entire Howdunit Series. However, if catching a murderer is your current goal, I'd start with Murder One, Modus Operandi, and Malicious Intent.
About the Author
Mike Morgan is a freelance writer and editor of the Writing
Resources Directory, a growing collection of Web sites for
writers. Browse the directory or add your site at www.bisoncreek.com.
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